Tom Brady, Bill Belichick deliver historic 'Sunday Night Football' ratings
Tom Brady and Bill Belichick spent the past 20 years dominating the NFL. On Sunday, they saved it from five years of declining ratings.
The much-hyped "Sunday Night Football" matchup between Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Belichick's New England Patriots resulted in a total audience delivery of 28.5 million across NBC, Peacock and other digital platforms. That's the second-highest "Sunday Night Football" game ever, after a Dec. 30, 2012 Dallas-Washington game that drew 30.3 million.
Total viewers on NBC alone were 27.2 million, making the game the most-watched event this year other than February's Super Bowl. Tampa Bay-New England also drew a 34 share, meaning more than a third of all televisions in use were turned to the game. That's the highest mark ever for "Sunday Night Football" since the show began in 2006.
This follows strong ratings for last Thursday's Bengals-Jaguars game, the most-watched NFL Network-exclusive "Thursday Night Football" game since 2018. The game's 8.5 million viewer total is a 47 percent increase over last year's Week 4 game between the Broncos and Jets.
The astounding numbers from Bucs-Pats seem to validate the theory that the NFL is a game of matchups, and that viewers will tune in to see the marquee games regardless of other entertainment options or political leanings. The NFL is cutting from a smaller overall pie now, but it's still getting the biggest slices.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jaybusbee or contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com.
