A Sunday night game between the Ravens and Falcons, missing two-time NFL MVP Lamar Jackson, still pulled in a massive average of 17 million viewers on NBC, according to Nielsen’s weekly audience report. Yeah, you read that right: 17 million sets of eyeballs glued to the screen, even with one of the league’s biggest draws sidelined.
Star Power: The Unseen MVP
Let’s be real: not having Lamar Jackson on the field for that game surely made an impact on who tuned in. Star players sell tickets, and they absolutely sell broadcasts. Even with a Brewers-Dodgers game on Fox drawing a respectable 10 million in direct competition, the Ravens-Falcons matchup still crushed it. The game itself delivered, with the Ravens pulling out an overtime win, 30-23, with Tyler Huntley stepping in for Jackson. But think about this: the viewership numbers were barely above the Buccaneers-Cowboys Thursday night game from Week 5, which pulled 16.725 million on Prime Video. That’s a tiny sliver of daylight, and it hammers home just how much a star like Jackson moves the needle.
The League’s Real MVP: Protecting the Franchise QBs
This whole situation totally underscores something we’ve been seeing for a while: the NFL is dead serious about protecting its franchise quarterbacks. It makes perfect business sense, right? The players who “most move the needle,” the guys who put those 17 million people in front of their TVs, those are the ones who are more likely to draw roughing-the-passer fouls. It’s not just about fairness; it’s about dollars and cents. Not having the “best of the best” players available absolutely has a negative impact on the NFL’s business interests. They know that missing a Lamar Jackson, or any top-tier QB, means fewer eyes on the screen, even if the numbers are still huge.
This coming Sunday night, it’s Cowboys-Packers, and you know those numbers are gonna pop off. That’s two huge teams stacked with multiple star players, and you can bet the league is banking on that kind of star power to deliver big.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Pro Football Talk.
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