Ratings for NFL playoff games set all kinds over the weekend, with cold temperatures in many parts of the country and quality games (even after lopsided starts to both games Sunday) drawing viewers to TV screens.The Saturday games, Jets-Bengals and Eagles-Cowboys, finished as the best Saturday afternoon game in more than a decade and as the highest-rated wild card game ever, respectively.
The early game, Jets-Bengals, was the hightest-rated wild card game since a Bills-Dolphins matchup in 1999. Also, the game's 16.9 rating/31 share was 18 percent higher than last year’s Falcons-Cardinals game (14.3/28) in the same timeslot and 10 percent higher than the Redskins-Seahawks game (15.4/29) in January 2008.
Saturday night's Eagles-Cowboys game drew the best overnight rating for a primetime wild card playoff game ever( 19.6/32). More than 30 million viewers tuned into the game -- and the same was true for the second game Sunday, as the Packers rallied before eventually losing to the Cardinals.
In the final half-hour of the game, it's "overrun" into the 7:30 p.m. timeslot, 34.7 million viewers were tuned into the action.