NFL's Exciting Weekend

For NFL fans around the country this weekend was filled with extremely exciting playoff football. Anyone who is not a fan of the Broncos, Texans, Seahawks or Packers probably enjoyed watching the exciting games. Did the excitement lead to high TV ratings? Lets take a look.

Denver vs. Baltimore
This may have been the most exciting of the four games (it's difficult to decide). John Fox will be criticized for taking a knee with 30 seconds still left in the game, Manning will be criticized for throwing an ill-advisied pass that was picked off, Holliday will be remembered for memorable kick returns. To some the most memorable storyline of the double overtime game will be the continuance of Ray Lewis' career. Although Baltimore and Denver aren't known as monster TV markets, this great game sure got the viewers tuned in. The games TV rating was 20.1% of US households. This is up 9% from last year's Saturday AFC divisional game and is the highest rating for the Saturday AFC divisional game in 19 years. The game averaged 35.3 million viewers.

Green Bay vs. San Francisco
This game was not nearly as dramatic as the earlier Saturday game. A lot of scoring was featured and the country got to witness 49er's quarterback Colin Kaepernick play a truly unbelievable game. The TV ratings were mixed for this game. Fox's overnight rating was 18.7% of US households, which was the highest Fox rating for a Saturday prime time game since 1994, but the ratings were down 9% from last years comparable coverage of New England vs. Denver.

Atlanta vs. Seattle
This was my personal favorite game of the weekend. The Sunday earlier game provided the viewer with a true range of emotions. We watched Atlanta blow a 20 point lead with 30 seconds to go. Atlanta then marched down the field to hit a game winning 49 yard field goal. It was the first playoff victory for Matt Ryan and Tony Gonzalez. Seattle's Russell Wilson put on a great performance that nearly lead the Seahawks to a remarkable comeback win. The TV ratings for this game were very good. The 21.3% of US households rating was up 3% from the comparable coverage of Baltimore vs. Houston last year.

New England vs. Houston
Although Houston tried to make a comeback late, New England looked really good in this game. The Patriots offense looked great as usual even after losing 'Gronk' early on. This game did produce a solid TV rating of 23.8% of US households, but this rating was down considerably from last year. The Giants vs. Packers played in the Sunday primetime slot last year and that game had a 13% higher rating.

Final Thought
When looking at the TV ratings, it is important to remember that the US population is growing every year so it is natural for more viewers to be tuning in. I personally watched all of the games and enjoyed them greatly. I think it is important to remember that as great as the NFL is, it is far from flawless. It is the sport that ends athletes career's too soon, it destroys players lives post-football, and often takes the lives of people earlier than expected. It is a vicious sport that will never truly change unless the viewers stop tuning in (not going to happen) or a player actually dies while playing (probably still wouldn't change the sport). I am the first to admit that I am part of the problem, I watch the games knowing how much harm it is going to cause players. How many lives it will destroy. How many families will be devastated. I don't know if I will ever be able to stop watching the NFL even though I know the harm it causes. I certainly do not expect the American public to stop watching the NFL anytime soon.

@dmrosen7






Statistics via usatoday.com

Pittsburgh's Bloke and Gold

Welcome to the Route 30 Detour! US Route 30 intersects at I-95 in Philadelphia and goes from coast to coast, including passing through Pittsburgh and the home of Drexel University SMT student and blog contributor, Bryan Fyalkowski (@fyalkowski)...




Next season will mark the first time since the NFL International Series debuted in 2005 that two regular season games will be played in the UK. On a more interesting note, it will be the first time Big Ben will be playing a football game in the shadow of Big Ben.

HA HA.

The Jacksonville Jaguars will "host" the San Francisco 49ers Oct. 29 as the Minnesota Vikings "host" the Pittsburgh Steelers Sept. 29. Both games will be at Wembley Stadium, the most prominent American football-capable venue in London.

The St. Louis Rams, who were supposed to play one home game per year in the UK from 2012-14, opted out of their plans to play there the next two years after they make an appearance in London this season Oct. 28 against the New England Patriots.

Jaguars owner Shad Khan has been shoving his team into the face of the English blokes like George Washington shoved his rifle into the butt of his English overlords**. Just recently, the NFL granted the Jaguars permission to market in the UK. Per this SBJ article, the Jaguars want the opportunity the expand their brand within a country they will be visiting at least once per year through 2016.

You better not move our precious Jaguars... YOU PROMISED!

As a Steelers' fan, I cannot say this means anything to me because it is just another game that I will be watching on television. But the atmosphere for the Vikings' "home" game could be tilted in the other direction. One of the calling cards to the Steelers' fan base is the team "travels well," meaning they fill up opposing teams' stadium on away games.

Whether it is a Terrible Towel or a Heath Miller jersey, Steeler fans know how to make themselves visible even when they are away from Heinz Field. However, I attribute this less to "traveling well" and more to the wide spread of black and gold history.

Stillers.

The Steelers won four Super Bowls during the 1970's, right when the NFL was beginning to see a rise in fan population. Of course Pittsburghers supported the team, but in a more industrious (literally) time in American society, people scattered all over the country would adopt the team as their own because of the physical nature of the team and the blue-collar attitude.

From what I have heard, there is nothing like Steeler Nation compared to the rest of the NFL. There are Steeler bars in every city in the US, such as Fox & Hound on the corner of 15th and Spruce in Philadelphia (YOU'RE WELCOME), and even some around the world.

Some say that the Steelers are going to London next year because Dan Rooney is the US Ambassador to Ireland, which may have had a little influence. But I think the Steeler organization agreed because they want to treat their own fans to a game they would not have had the opportunity to see otherwise, as Art Rooney II says in this article.

Boss. The end.

So regardless of the Steelers' old defense and Mike Wallace's questionable future with the team, it will be a unique experience for international fans to see their team play in person. Who knows how many will show up, but if I had to guess, the crowd will be more gold than purple at Wembley Stadium that day.

**Historical facts not supported by evidence of any kind.

Enjoy your trip back to I-95 and I'll see you next week!