Ryan Mayer After the first Sunday of NFL action, the league’s various broadcast partners are likely happy this morning. Overnight ratings reporting shows increases in viewership in three of the four windows. In their set of regional, single-header games, CBS Sports is reporting that ratings are up 23% over last season’s with an average overnight household rating share of 10.6/22. The network’s pregame show, The NFL Today, also saw a ratings increase, with a 2.8/7 overnight rating, which was up 12% from last season. The average 10.6 rating is the highest opening singleheader rating in three years. CBS Sports' NFL ratings up from 2017 https://t.co/2o9G1HWFdt pic.twitter.com/429OmpdTi2 — CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) September 10, 2018 As for FOX, they scored an 8.8 average rating across their regional broadcasts which was up 5% from last season. Their national coverage, which included the Panthers-Cowboys game in most markets, is up 1% year over year (15.7 vs. 15.6) NBC wasn’t as lucky, with the Packers and Bears Sunday Night Football game garnering a 14.4 rating, which is down 9% from last year’s Giants-Cowboys Week 1 match-up. However, that rating is up from Thursday’s opening game between the Falcons and Eagles. One other thing to note, courtesy of Sports Media Watch, last year’s Week 1 ratings were lower due to the effects of Hurricane Irma coverage.<doc-sep>The NFL is back in full force. Finally. Here are 32 things we learned from Week 1: 1. So great to have Aaron Rodgers back. Then, so awful to lose him to another catastrophic injury. Then, so great to have the Leader of the Pack back again to remind us how much more fun the NFL is when he's working his magic. 2. How sick must Jon Gruden and the Raiders have been watching Khalil Mack wreak havoc in a Bears uniform Sunday night? Mack may be gone from Oakland, but he won't be forgotten, nor will the questions about the decision to ship him out. 3. We're pretty sure Chicago hangs on to beat Green Bay if new coach Matt Nagy does the right thing and calls OT Charles Leno's number on a pass play out of the slot. 4. Week 1 MVP? How about Buccaneers "backup" QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, who connected for four TD passes and a career-high 417 passing yards (still 22 fewer than New Orleans counterpart Drew Brees). But Tampa Bay pulled off the upset of the day with a 48-40 win on the road, and it just got a little more likely that suspended Jameis Winston may not have a job waiting for him when he returns in Week 4. 5. What dat? The Saints have not won their opener since 2013. 6. Alvin Kamara, Michael Thomas, Mike Evans and DeSean Jackson each went over 100 receiving yards in that game and had 585 collectively. The Bucs and Saints recorded 26 first downs apiece and combined for 1,004 total yards, 11 TDs ... and one sack. The Buccaneers and Saints produced 88 total points, the most for a Week 1 game in the Super Bowl era, which dates to 1966. Want more NFL? :Sign up here and get our analysis in your inbox 7.The Titans and Dolphins combined to play a 7-hour, 8-minute game, the longest since the 1970 merger by nearly two hours. Lightning delays played havoc with a contest staged in South Florida. 8. The 21-21 tie between the Steelers and Browns was the NFL's first on opening day since 1971. 9. We wish Ben Roethlisberger (5 turnovers) was not our fantasy quarterback. 10. We do wish we had Steelers RB James Conner (192 total yards, 2 TDs in his first NFL start). Le'Veon who? More:Browns aren't satisfied with tie, but stalemate with Steelers is sign of progress 11. Pittsburgh's T.J. Watt had more sacks (4) than brother J.J. had tackles (3). Oh, and Chargers FB Derek Watt had 1 yard on one carry ... equaling the number of game-saving field-goal blocks T.J. had. 12. CB Denzel Ward (2 INTs) has jumped out to a nice lead over Baker Mayfield as front runner for Cleveland's most valuable first-round pick of 2018 ... in 2018 anyway. 13. Browns fans didn't get any free Bud Light after Sunday's tie. Feels like the Cleveland faithful earned at least 8 oz. mini cans, right? 14. Cleveland's tie snapped a 17-game losing streak. But the Browns still own just one win in their past 36 outings. Truly surreal. 15. Adrian Peterson's 96-yard rushing debut with Washington vaulted him past Marshall Faulk and Jim Brown into 10th place all-time. AD now has 12,372 career yards. (Peterson also had a 52-yard catch, his longest in nine years.) 16. Jimmy Garoppolo's eighth NFL start produced his first loss and first three-INT day. But you get what you pay for, right? Garoppolo is only making $27.5 million annually. He was bested by Minnesota's Kirk Cousins, who's pulling down $28 million per year. 17. But Patrick Mahomes remains undefeated, the second-year passer moving to 2-0 after his four-TD debut as the man for the Chiefs, who have now beaten the Chargers nine straight. (The victory was even more impressive considering K.C. got shredded for 541 yards.) 18. Maybe Tyreek Hill was correct last month when he claimed Kansas City "will be the best offense in the National Football League." Arguably the most electric player in the NFL, Hill did his part Sunday with 169 yards and two TDs courtesy of Mahomes' arm and another 91-yard score on a punt return courtesy of his own blazing speed. Hill has 13 touchdowns of at least 50 yards since he entered the league in 2016. No other player has more than four in that span. 19. The Bolts are still missing field goals in September. You can't hang L.A.'s loss on Caleb Sturgis, but his 48-yard misfire with 66 seconds to go cost the Chargers any shot at a comeback in their 38-28 loss. Still, Roberto Aguayo will probably remain on speed dial a while longer. ... OR MAYBE JUST CALL DAN BAILEY AND FIX THIS! 20. Is 2018 when Broncos OLB Von Miller finally wins defensive player of the year honors? He got started by making seven tackles, three sacks, forcing two fumbles and recovering one. 21. The Seahawks began the post-Legion of Boom era by allowing 470 yards, 25 first downs and 27 points. Welcome back, Earl Thomas. 22. Any concern over lack of production from New England's receivers remains legit. Just nine of Tom Brady's 26 completions (for 83 yards) went to wideouts Sunday. (Suspended Julian Edelman is eligible to return against Indianapolis on Oct. 4.) 23. Any concern over the lack of production from Dallas' receivers remains legit. Thirteen of Dak Prescott's 19 completions went to wideouts Sunday, producing all of 135 yards. We wouldn't want any part of this either, Dez. 24. Tyrann Mathieu's move to Houston was one of the offseason's less-heralded signings. But he seems to be back in Honey Badger form, picking off Brady and recovering a Patriots fumble in his Texans debut. 25. Those new "Titan blue" jerseys will take some getting used to. We suspect the navy jerseys will be more appealing combined with Tennessee's new navy helmets. (It would also be nice if there was anything appealing about the Titans offense.) 26. Really nice to see Andrew Luck play well in his return, notching his first TD pass in 616 days.<doc-sep>US network NBC holds the rights to Sunday Night Football broadcasts for the National Football League, so it moved the Emmys to a Monday (AFP Photo/Mitchell Leff) New York (AFP) - The National Football League's season-opening clash between the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons saw a sharp dip in ratings, figures showed Friday, as President Donald Trump renewed criticism of the league. NBC television reported that the weather-delayed game in Philadelphia recorded a rating of 13.4% of households, a steep drop from last year's season-opening figure of 14.6%. Thursday's ratings number is way down on other season kick-off games of recent years, with 16.5% watching in 2016 for the Carolina Panthers-Denver Broncos game and 17.7% tuning in for New England's clash with Pittsburgh in 2015. While the delayed start to Thursday's game is likely to have influence the figure, the sharp dip comes as the NFL struggles to quell controversy over the issues of player protests. The issue was thrust back into the spotlight this week after NFL sponsor Nike revealed that former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who launched his protests against police brutality and racial injustice in 2016, had been chosen to front a new advertising campaign. The advert featuring Kaepernick, who claims he has been blackballed by NFL team owners over his activism, aired during the third quarter of Thursday's game. President Trump, who has been a relentless critic of players who refuse to stand for the anthem, slammed Nike and the NFL on Friday on social media and in an interview with Fox television. "What was Nike thinking?" Trump wrote on Twitter in a reference to the Kaepernick advert. Trump, who scheduled a campaign rally in Montana on Thursday night to coincide with the NFL opener, later criticized the league in an interview with Fox and Friends. The NFL had in May announced a compromise which required players on the field to stand during the anthem, but allowed athletes to remain in the locker room if they preferred not to stand. That policy was later shelved after protests from players. Several rounds of negotiations between the players union and the NFL have so far failed to settle on a solution. Story continues On Thursday, only one Eagles player, Michael Bennett, appeared to protest. Bennett stood for the start of "The Star Spangled Banner" but then sat on the team bench before the song had finished. "I don't know what the NFL is doing," Trump said Friday, condemning the proposed policy of allowing players to remain in the locker room during the anthem. "I think that's worse than kneeling in a certain way," Trump said. "That shows that you just have no respect for the anthem and the flag." "I don't like what Nike did. I don't think it's appropriate what they did. I honor the flag. I honor our national anthem and most of the people in this country feel the same way. They feel the same way." Political analysts have predicted that Trump will seek to keep the anthem issue alive as he attempts to energize his base ahead of crucial mid-term elections in November.<doc-sep>The 2018 NFL season is officially underway, and on the first full Sunday of games, President Trump took to Twitter to criticize the league for its opening night rating. Thursday night's game between the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons posted a 13.4/25 overnight rating, NBC Sports PR confirmed. That number is 13% worse than last year's opening game between the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs. According to Deadline, the total audience was the lowest for any kickoff game since 2009. Thursday night's game started 45 minutes late due to a rain delay, and the 13.4 rating doesn't include digital viewership. Trump, however, cited the broadcast decline in renewing his attacks on the NFL. More:Trump's toughest tweets knocking players for kneeling during anthem Though ESPN and CBS have said they will not broadcast the national anthem for games this season, NBC did show the performance during the Eagles' win on Thursday. Eagles defensive end Michael Bennett sat before the end of the song, but no other players appeared to protest.<doc-sep>
President Donald Trump won't find much to criticize in the opening Sunday of NFL action as the first NFL games broadcast on CBS and Fox resulted in ratings gains over Week 1 last year. CBS reported it had the most-watched season opening single-game window since 1998, while Fox — which had the doubleheader Sunday — saw a 1 percent gain for its America's Game of the Week (Dallas Cowboys vs. Carolina Panthers) and 5 percent improvement for its regional coverage. CBS had 17.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen’s. That average audience was 29 percent larger than last year. Trump took to Twitter on Sunday to rip NBC for its Thursday night opener, which saw a 13 percent dip in viewership. He wrote "if the players stood proudly for our Flag and Anthem" ratings would not have slipped. The season-opening Philadelphia Eagles-Atlanta Falcons contest was delayed by weather. NBC's Sunday Night Football contest was the only one of the four broadcast windows that was down. Its broadcast of the Green Bay Packers' 24-23 victory over the Chicago Bears netted a 14.4 overnight rating and 25 share, a nearly 9 percent drop from last year's Sunday Night Football contest (Giants vs. Cowboys). Fox and CBS also reported ratings gains for its pregame shows with CBS's The NFL Today netting its best rating (2.8/7) since 2015. Fox NFL Sunday saw a 9 percent improvement over 2017. The NFL's broadcast audience dipped 10 percent in 2017 and declined 8 percent in 2016, although the NFL remains a force on broadcast TV. Most other programming — including scripted shows — has seen a much bigger decline in recent years amid a shift toward streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.