Nearly 21 Million Watch Eagles-Giants Shootout
The Eagles' 45-38 win over the New York Giants was witnessed on NBC by 20.9 million, which put the game in a tie for the 10th-largest audience in the history of Sunday Night Football. The Eagles have now been involved in three of the top ten most-watched games on Sunday night.
The audience for the Eagles-Giants game was 57 percent higher than the Week 14 game in 2008. It was the seventh time that the NBC Sunday night game exceeded an audience of 20 million viewers. The Eagles-Cowboys game on Nov. 8 was watched by 21.9 million people, which was a tie for the sixth-largest Sunday night audience. The Eagles-Patriots game in 2007 was seen by 21.8 million people, the eighth-largest ever on NBC's Sunday Night Football.
After reading that on the Eagles' website. It got me thinking that the Eagles are usually one of the most watched teams on national television. I decided to do some research and find out the facts. Our country is so filled with bandwagon Cowboys fans that it inflates their numbers . It's good to see "real" fans and the occasional viewer watch pretty much just as much Eagles football than Cowboys. The Cowboys still being called "America's Team" by some of their fans is a joke to me now. I like to call them "America's Chumps". More numbers and facts after the jump.....(that rhymed by the way)
"SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL" GAMES WITH 20+ MILLION VIEWERS:
* Denotes 2009 Season
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*1. 24.8 million, Giants-Cowboys, 9/20/09 (Dallas Cowboys stadium debut)
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2. 23.1 million, Giants-Cowboys, 12/14/08
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3. 22.6 million, Colts-Giants, 9/10/06 ("Manning Bowl")
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*4. 22.4 million, Patriots-Colts, 11/15/09
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5. 22.2 million, Cowboys-Packers, 9/21/08
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*T6. 21.9 million, Cowboys-Eagles, 11/8/09
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T6. 21.9 million, Colts-Patriots, 11/5/06
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8. 21.8 million, Eagles-Patriots, 11/25/07
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*9. 21.1 million, Bears-Packers, 9/13/09
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*T10. 20.9 million, Titans-Steelers, 9/10/09 (Thursday Night Opener)
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*T10. 20.9 million, Vikings-Cardinals, 12/6/09 (Last Week's Game)
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*T10. 20.9 million, Eagles-Giants, 12/13/09 (Last Night's Game
Since the start of Sunday Night Football there has been twelve games with more than 20 million viewers. 3 of those 12 games involved the Eagles. Dallas and Giants have 4 but the Cowboys' shitload of bandwagon fans inflated two of those games vs the Giants. Giants' others were the Manning bowl and vs the Eagles. Giants fans also "surprisingly" came out in bunches after the recent Superbowl victory so make of that what you will. Besides that, 7 of those 12 games involved an NFC East team. Is there any doubt which division owns the NFL?
Most-Viewed Monday Night Football Games on ESPN (2006 – Present)
Rank Date Teams Viewers(millions)
- 1 10/05/2009 Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings 21.8
- 2 11/30 2009 New England Patriots-New Orleans Saints 21.4
- 3 09/15/2008 Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys 18.6
- 4 12/03/2007 New England Patriots-Baltimore Ravens 17.5
- 5 10/23/2006 New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys 16.0
- 6 11/09/2009 Pittsburgh Steelers-Denver Broncos 16.0
- 7 09/28/2009 Carolina Panthers-Dallas Cowboys 15.7
- 8 09/25/2006 Atlanta Falcons-New Orleans Saints 15.0
- 9 09/21/2009 Indianapolis Colts-Miami Dolphins 14.7
- 10 10/16/2006 Chicago Bears-Arizona Cardinals 14.2
So since 2006 the Eagles have 3 of the top 12 watched Sunday Night Games and the third highest ever watched Monday Night Game. Yes, I know the Cowboys appear the most in the this list as well but as I stated earlier, we all know which team has the most bandwagon fans. I basically just disregard them. Notice how the Eagles' ratings are the highest during November-December and the Cowboys' are high September-October and only 1 game being high in December. I guess their "fans" go play hide-n-seek in December.
Now all that was just numbers to prove the Eagles are one of the top 3 most watched teams in football. Here are some additional facts to show who should really be America's Team.
In this decade only two other teams has won 100 or more games and those are the Patriots and Colts. Albeit, they have something we don't which is a Superbowl win but we whup them in national viewing. It is inevitable the Eagles will get that Superbowl sooner rather than later. Until then that's the only thing other fans/teams have against us.
Upcoming reasons are a little cheesy but still relevant points in my opinion...
Another reason we should be America's team is being in Philadelphia. We are the original nation's capital and our independence started right here in Philly. If that never happened, the NFL wouldn't exist! Haha...
Another reason: What is our national animal?
via osteros.com
Sooooo....Let's recap. The Eagles are one of the top 3 most watched teams in America, one of the top 3 winning-est teams in this decade, our nation's capital was originally Philadelphia, we got our independence here, and our national animal is an Eagle. What more do you need? For sure the Cowboys are no longer "America's Team" so who else deserves it but our Eagles?
P.S. I know you fans from other teams(Dallas) will poke fun with the Superbowl thing but this is about now not ancient times. I will fan shot this post at BTB to see what they think too. RECS can be stamps of approvals : )
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