Despite not getting the late-game heroics in Sunday's 41-23 New England Patriots victory over the Denver Broncos, the Week 15 NFL match up still did extremely well in the TV ratings. According to Austin Karp of Sports Business Daily, the late-game contest received a 19.5 overnight rating, which not only was the highest for a CBS NFL game this season, but was the best mark in four years.
Of course, the build up to the highly anticipated match up between the Pats, who featured star quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick, and the Broncos, who featured the unexplained magic of quarterback Tim Tebow, earned some early-game eye balls.
The game could have earned a better rating if the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles broadcast was slotted at a different time or NBC was able to flex the Broncos-Patriots game in the Sunday night slot. If that had happened, then the New England-Denver contest would have had two more major TV markets watching.
Just imagine what the ratings would have been then?
For more on the two teams, check out Denver Broncos blog Mile High Report and New England Patriots blog Pats Pulpit.