The NFL Once Again Gives CBS and Fox the Shaft

1. I’ve said for a while now that the point at which the NFL will dump CBS and Fox in favor of streaming services is coming faster than you think.

The NFL has made it clear it doesn’t care about having good games air on Sundays at 1 p.m, which is CBS and Fox territory. The league spit in the face of Fox and CBS during Week 18 when it gave the three games that meant anything to ESPN/ABC (Panthers-Bucs and Seahawks-Niners) and NBC (Ravens-Steelers) and left CBS and Fox with nothing.

Now comes the divisional round of the playoffs, during which the NFL gave CBS and Fox the Saturday games. The Saturday games always draw lower ratings than the Sunday games.

See you next weekend for the Divisional Round. #NFLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/Q4s186Hjty
— NFL (@NFL) January 13, 2026

Fox especially should be livid that it got passed over for the Rams-Bears game, which went to NBC. Meanwhile, CBS got what will be the lowest rated game of the weekend, Bills-Broncos, simply based on timeslot.

CBS pays $2.1 billion a year for its NFL package. Fox pays $2.2 billion. And they can’t even get a good game in Week 18 or better scheduling in the playoffs. It’s almost as if the NFL is trying to soften the blow for the eventual break up.

2. The Sheldon Rankins touchdown Monday night was the best play of the postseason so far.

SHELDON RANKINS TAKES IT BACK FOR A TD

HOUvsPIT on ESPN/ABC
Stream on @NFLPlus and ESPN App pic.twitter.com/K63YkhukX8
— NFL (@NFL) January 13, 2026

Not because Rankins gave us a big guy touchdown, but because of how he completely destroyed Steelers offensive lineman Isaac Seumalo before recovering the fumble and rumbling for the 33-yard touchdown.

Rankins runs over Seumalo, Anderson and Hunter maul Rodgers, Rankins yanks the fumble out of the pile and runs it for a score.

That’s the game in a nutshell. Houston just way more physical on both sides of the ball. pic.twitter.com/8voCwR9W93
— Kevin Smith (@KTSmithFFSN) January 13, 2026

3. Miami’s thrilling 31-27 semifinal win over Ole Miss last Thursday turned out to be a ratings dud, with 15.8 million viewers tuning in. It was the second least watched semifinal game of the playoff era.

4. If you are keeping up with Tom Brady this week, he’d like you to be healthier while eating Pizza Hut.

I'm proud to serve as @eMedHealth_’s Chief Wellness Officer. We're working on something that really matters, improving population health at scale so that people can feel better, perform better, and protect their long term health. pic.twitter.com/D2rhQcA9nj
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) January 12, 2026

What can we say? The man’s got a nice HUT.

Pick up the Big New Yorker before the next big game for just $10 and maybe @tombrady will deliver it! Probably not though. #PizzaBeforeTheHut pic.twitter.com/QqcJCcpaNw
— Pizza Hut (@pizzahut) January 7, 2026

5. This guy is my new favorite TikToker. I can’t embed TikTok videos here, so I have to post the YouTube, but if you wanna check him out on TikTok, here’s the link.

Anyway, I was a HUGE Something to Wrestle With fan back in 2017, and I’m still a big Conrad Thompson fan, so if you are at all familiar with either or both, you will thoroughly enjoy this.

6. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina features an interview with ESPN workhorse Laura Rutledge.

Rutledge talks about her various jobs, which include NFL Live, SEC Nation, Monday Night Football and sideline reporting during the college football playoffs.

In addition, Rutledge shares her side of recent “controversies” regarding her postgame interviews with Justin Herbert and Sam Darnold and discusses getting the Chris Berman treatment for her viral sprint from doing a halftime interview to the set to host halftime of the Sugar Bowl.

Rutledge also talks about her worst halftime interview, the job she likes the most and what she watches in the little downtime she gets and much more.

Following Rutledge, SNY’s Sal Licata joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we discussed our Christmas and New Year’s holidays, talked NFL playoffs and gave out some television recommendations.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 65th birthday to Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Never forget her line and tremendous delivery during David Letterman’s final Top 10 List.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.