CBS Sports is usually good with their NFL coverage in regard to game distribution to markets and bonus coverage of in-progress games aired on their network. Yesterday, they sent conflicting messages to myself and other NFL fans. CBS elected to show the San Diego-Miami game to most of the country at 1:00 pm for the first game of their doubleheader. The only areas not assigned to that game were the states of New York (except cities Buffalo and Rochester) Connecticut, Vermont, Missouri, and Ohio and the cities of Scranton PA, Jacksonville, Orlando, Dallas, Cleveland, Houston, and Minneapolis.
The states of New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania received the NY Jets-Kansas City game.
The states of Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, western Pennsylvania, and the cities of Jacksonville, Orlando, Savannah GA, and Baltimore were assigned the Jacksonville-Cincinnati game.
San Diego-Miami was a blowout in favor of Miami by 20 to 0 at halftime and 37 to 0 at the end of the third quarter. At that time, NY Jets-Kansas City was into the fourth quarter with 13:31 remaining and KC leading 24-10. At the same time, Cincinnati was leading Jacksonville 19-10 with 3:49 left in the third quarter. CBS elected to switch many stations, including WUSA-TV in D.C., away away SD-MIA. Good move, right? Well, sort of good and bad. The game we joined was the Jets and Kansas City Chiefs even though the Jacksonville Jaguars-Cincinnati Bengals ballgame was closer. Once the Jets-Chiefs contest ended with KC winning 24-10, viewers who watched that game from the beginning and the neutral markets from the SD-MIA game were sent to the studio instead of to the JAX-CIN game. The Jaguars had just scored a touchdown to cut the Bengals lead to 26-23 with 8:13 left in the fourth quarter. Cincinnati did score a touchdown, an 80-yard run, right after Jacksonville's TD.
However, we should have seen both scores and that game until it finished. CBS' next set of games was set for 4:25 pm, well, next game. Their two games were Denver-New England and Oakland-Seattle. They heavily promoted Denver-New England which was a matchup of two future hall-of-fame quarterbacks, the Broncos' Peyton Manning and the Patriots' Tom Brady. Understandably, it got top billing but almost to an annoyance. It was like a "this has the potential for a good game, don't sell us short" feeling.
Well, it was oversold and underperformed pregame expectations. New England jumped ahead to a 27 to 7 lead at halftime. At the same time, the winless Oakland Raiders were playing the defending champion Seattle Seahawks. As expected, the as Seahawks were dominating at home with a 24-3 lead at the half. Denver doubled their first half scoring total (7) in the third quarter alone (14). The Broncos had 21 points but couldn't stop the Patriots from scoring. New England scored 10 more points in that quarter to lead 37-21 after three quarters. Okay, closer but not real competitive. In Seattle, the Seahawks were struggling with the winless Raiders. Oakland outscored Seattle by a count of 14 to 0 in the third quarter. It was suddenly 24-17, in favor of
Seattle.
So, one game was 37-21 and the other was 24-17. Which game do you think CBS goes to in areas outside New England and the Rocky Mountains? Remember, CBS switched the D.C. market to another game (NYJ-KC) during the middle of SD-MIA. How about the 24-17 game? Buzzzzzz, WRONG! It got worse, New England scored a touchdown to increase their lead to 43-21 with 13:36 remaining in the game. Still no switch. Seattle kicked a couple of field goals to lead 30-17. However, Oakland got another touchdown in the fourth quarter to make it 30-24. Still no switch. Seattle eventually held on to beat Oakland, 30-24. In fact, viewers of the Oakland-Seattle game were switched over to the Denver-New England blowout when their contest finished first.get it, it's Manning versus Brady, two of the best QBs ever, but there was a much better game going on at the same time.
This was contradictory and hypocritical to what happened earlier in the afternoon with the San Diego-Miami and NY Jets-Kansas City. The conspiracy theorist in me says CBS made the switch in the first game for stations like WUSA-TV in D.C. because they knew the Jets would lose their game in KC and do it before the Broncos-Patriots game kicked off at 4:25. The move was about getting as many viewers to the game they most advertised. The best NFL game televised last Sunday by CBS was winless Oakland at Seattle. Before Sunday, I would have said there's a better chance of me winning the lottery. Maybe I should go play "MegaMillions". Anyway, it seems the NFL and its TV partners care less and less about presenting quality but quantity in terms of money.
I should be happy I am not a diehard fan of the crime investigation show, "CSI". Two straight weeks now, CBS has preempted new episodes of "CSI" due to really long NFL games and their obsession with airing "60 Minutes" on-time but not delaying their lineup until all shows are shown in their entirety.
The states of New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania received the NY Jets-Kansas City game.
The states of Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, western Pennsylvania, and the cities of Jacksonville, Orlando, Savannah GA, and Baltimore were assigned the Jacksonville-Cincinnati game.
San Diego-Miami was a blowout in favor of Miami by 20 to 0 at halftime and 37 to 0 at the end of the third quarter. At that time, NY Jets-Kansas City was into the fourth quarter with 13:31 remaining and KC leading 24-10. At the same time, Cincinnati was leading Jacksonville 19-10 with 3:49 left in the third quarter. CBS elected to switch many stations, including WUSA-TV in D.C., away away SD-MIA. Good move, right? Well, sort of good and bad. The game we joined was the Jets and Kansas City Chiefs even though the Jacksonville Jaguars-Cincinnati Bengals ballgame was closer. Once the Jets-Chiefs contest ended with KC winning 24-10, viewers who watched that game from the beginning and the neutral markets from the SD-MIA game were sent to the studio instead of to the JAX-CIN game. The Jaguars had just scored a touchdown to cut the Bengals lead to 26-23 with 8:13 left in the fourth quarter. Cincinnati did score a touchdown, an 80-yard run, right after Jacksonville's TD.
However, we should have seen both scores and that game until it finished. CBS' next set of games was set for 4:25 pm, well, next game. Their two games were Denver-New England and Oakland-Seattle. They heavily promoted Denver-New England which was a matchup of two future hall-of-fame quarterbacks, the Broncos' Peyton Manning and the Patriots' Tom Brady. Understandably, it got top billing but almost to an annoyance. It was like a "this has the potential for a good game, don't sell us short" feeling.
Well, it was oversold and underperformed pregame expectations. New England jumped ahead to a 27 to 7 lead at halftime. At the same time, the winless Oakland Raiders were playing the defending champion Seattle Seahawks. As expected, the as Seahawks were dominating at home with a 24-3 lead at the half. Denver doubled their first half scoring total (7) in the third quarter alone (14). The Broncos had 21 points but couldn't stop the Patriots from scoring. New England scored 10 more points in that quarter to lead 37-21 after three quarters. Okay, closer but not real competitive. In Seattle, the Seahawks were struggling with the winless Raiders. Oakland outscored Seattle by a count of 14 to 0 in the third quarter. It was suddenly 24-17, in favor of
Seattle.
So, one game was 37-21 and the other was 24-17. Which game do you think CBS goes to in areas outside New England and the Rocky Mountains? Remember, CBS switched the D.C. market to another game (NYJ-KC) during the middle of SD-MIA. How about the 24-17 game? Buzzzzzz, WRONG! It got worse, New England scored a touchdown to increase their lead to 43-21 with 13:36 remaining in the game. Still no switch. Seattle kicked a couple of field goals to lead 30-17. However, Oakland got another touchdown in the fourth quarter to make it 30-24. Still no switch. Seattle eventually held on to beat Oakland, 30-24. In fact, viewers of the Oakland-Seattle game were switched over to the Denver-New England blowout when their contest finished first.get it, it's Manning versus Brady, two of the best QBs ever, but there was a much better game going on at the same time.
This was contradictory and hypocritical to what happened earlier in the afternoon with the San Diego-Miami and NY Jets-Kansas City. The conspiracy theorist in me says CBS made the switch in the first game for stations like WUSA-TV in D.C. because they knew the Jets would lose their game in KC and do it before the Broncos-Patriots game kicked off at 4:25. The move was about getting as many viewers to the game they most advertised. The best NFL game televised last Sunday by CBS was winless Oakland at Seattle. Before Sunday, I would have said there's a better chance of me winning the lottery. Maybe I should go play "MegaMillions". Anyway, it seems the NFL and its TV partners care less and less about presenting quality but quantity in terms of money.
I should be happy I am not a diehard fan of the crime investigation show, "CSI". Two straight weeks now, CBS has preempted new episodes of "CSI" due to really long NFL games and their obsession with airing "60 Minutes" on-time but not delaying their lineup until all shows are shown in their entirety.
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