NFL Week 13 Television Coverage
In regards to the game against the Broncos, Brady-Manning XIV not only lived up to the hype, it was a ratings bonanza as it posted a 17.0 overnight rating and 28 share. Those numbers made that game the best in primetime overnight ratings for a November game in 17 years; for the sake of comparison that represents a 26% increase over last year’s Week 12 Sunday Night Football game and it more than doubled the overnight rating of primetime’s second-ranked entertainment show for the night. The last time a primetime NFL game played in November was in 1996, in a game featuring Dan Marino between the Dolphins and Steelers. In the Boston television market the game drew a 37.3 household rating and 59 share, both of which are phenomenal numbers.
One other programming note: the NFL Network will be replaying the Patriots-Broncos game on Wednesday at 9:00 pm ET in an expanded two hour time slot.
 Broncos and Chiefs meet for the second time in a key AFC game this week |
As far as next week goes, there is great news for out of town Patriot fans, as the game at Houston gets near-nationwide television coverage. Here is a look at the preliminary television coverage for week 13 based on initial listings decided at FOX and CBS corporate headquarters; individual local stations do have the option of requesting a change during the week.
Early Games on CBS
No early game on CBS per NFL broadcast rules in Minneapolis, Charlotte and Philadelphia
Miami Dolphins at New York Jets
Marv Albert, Rich Gannon
Florida (except Jacksonville and Orlando), southern New Jersey, northeastern Pennsylvania, New York
Jacksonville Jaguars at Cleveland Browns
Kevin Harlan, Solomon Wilcots
Ohio, West Virginia, Jacksonville, Orlando
Tennessee Titans at Indianapolis Colts
Bill Macatee, Steve Tasker
Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, San Francisco
New England Patriots at Houston Texans
Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf
Broadcast everywhere else except as noted above.
Late Games on CBS
No late game on CBS per NFL broadcast rules in San Francisco
Cincinnati Bengals at San Diego Chargers
Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts
Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, southern California
Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs
Jim Nantz, Phil Simms
Broadcast everywhere else except as noted above.
Early Games on FOX
Arizona Cardinals at Philadelphia Eagles
Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston
Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas (except Dallas and Houston), Arkansas, eastern Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, DC, southern New Jersey, Pennsylvania
Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings
Thom Brennaman, Brian Billick
Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Reno, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, West Virginia, Vermont, part of Ohio, Dallas, Houston
Tampa Bay Bucs at Carolina Panthers
Chris Myers, Tim Ryan
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida (except Miami), South Carolina, North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, western Virginia
Late Games on FOX
Atlanta Falcons at Buffalo Bills
Dick Stockton, Ronde Barber
Georgia, New York (except NYC)
St. Louis Rams at San Francisco 49ers
Kevin Burkhardt, John Lynch
Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Las Vegas, Missouri, Indianapolis, northern New Jersey, New York City, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine
National Games
Thursday Early on FOX
Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions
Joe Buck, Roy Aikman
Thursday Late on CBS
Oakland Raiders at Dallas Cowboys
Jim Nantz, Phil Simms
Thursday Night on NBC
Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens
Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth
Sunday Night on NBC
New York Giants at Washington Redskins
Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth
Monday Night on ESPN
New Orleans Saints at Seattle Seahawks
Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden
As for Thursday's games, here are those picks now as I probably won't have time to do a full preview later this week.
Green Bay Packers (5-5-1) at Detroit Lions (6-5)
The Pack is just too banged up, and the Lions typically follow a bad game with a win.
Pick • Lions 31, Packers 21 ✔
Lions -6 ✔
Over 49½ ✔
Final Score: Lions 40, Packers 10 ... Detroit covers by 24 ... over by ½
Oakland Raiders (4-7) at Dallas Cowboys (6-5)
This has trap game written all over it, but it's difficult to have any faith in the Raiders on the road.
Pick • Cowboys 20, Raiders 17 ✔
Raiders +9½ ✔
Under 47 ✘
Final Score: Cowboys 31, Raiders 24 ... Oakland covers by 2½ ... over by 8
Pittsburgh Steelers (5-6) at Baltimore Ravens (5-6)
Forget about their bad losses, Baltimore is much better at home; at M&T they are 4-1 and allowing just 10.8 points per game this year.
Pick • Ravens 20, Steelers 13 ✔
Ravens -3 ✘
Under 40½ ✘
Final Score: Ravens 22, Steelers 20 ... Pittsburgh covers by 1 ... over by 1½
And a few college picks:
Ohio State at 346 Michigan +17 (one unit) ... Ohio State wins 42-41 ... ✔ +100
347 Boston College -1½ (one unit) at Syracuse ... BC loses 34-31 ... ✘ -110
353 Duke +5 (one unit) at North Carolina ... Duke wins 27-25 ... ✔ +100
Minnesota at 366 Michigan St -16 (two units) ... Mich St wins 14-3 ... ✔✔ +200
Top Play Of The Week:
393 Florida State -28½ at Florida (three units) ... FSU wins 37-7 ... ✔✔✔ +300
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