Eagles Bring Out “Philly Special” To Win But NFL Kickoff Ratings Down From 2017
The Heavens did not seem well disposed to the official beginning of the NFL season last night, as rain and possible lightning in the City of Brotherly Love pushed back the start of the Philadelphia Eagles gridiron battle against the Atlanta Falcons.
With only Eagles defensive end Michael Bennett taking to the bench in protest during the national anthem, when things finally did kick off on NBC just after 9 PM ET, it certainly didn’t seem to be the most inspiring game. At one point, tell-it-like-it-is Philly fans were booing the current Super Bowl champs on live TV for their lame efforts on the field.
Then, as it looked like Atlanta would be grinding out a win, the action really started right near the end as the Eagles dusted off a variation of their Super Bowl move the Philly Special. With some quick moves, QB Nick Foles snagged a 15-yard pass from teammate Nelson Agholor on a reverse to seal an 18-12 victory for the Eagles and some respect from the more than just the fans at Lincoln Financial Field.
Sadly, that glory did not translate into the ratings
With a 13.4/5 in the metered markets, the post-midnight ending game is down 8% from last year’s kickoff of September 7, 2017. In one of the lowest season openers ratingswise and facing portions of a cable news-covered rally by a very NFL critical President Donald Trump, last night’s game is not only down from last year, but 2016, 2015 and 2014 – all of which saw successive declines.
To add more injury to that, the 2017 8:42 PM ET-starting season opener between the victorious Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots ended up with a weak 7.7/29 rating among adults 18-49 and 21.8 million viewers. That was a double digit decline from 2016 and the worst total audience an opening game had since 2009.
https://deadline.com/2018/09/eagles-nfl-kickoff-game-ratings-down-falcons-nbc-1202459228/
Keep at it, POTUS.