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Cowboys Win TV Ratings: How High Does Loss To Bucs Rank?

Dallas' disastrous loss to Tom Brady and Tampa Bay drew Sunday Night Football's biggest viewership in seven years.
Richie Whitt|
Cowboys Win TV Ratings: How High Does Loss To Bucs Rank?
Cowboys Win TV Ratings: How High Does Loss To Bucs Rank?

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FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys couldn't beat Tom Brady. But they routed every other team in the NFL.

In TV ratings, that is.

Dallas' disastrous 19-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers - which included the loss of quarterback Dak Prescott to a fractured thumb - drew the largest TV audience for an NBC Sunday Night Football opener in seven years. Brady vs. 'Boys was watched by 25.1 million, the biggest viewership for a SNF Week 1 game since 2015 when - you guessed it - the Cowboys played the New York Giants.

Cowboys-Bucs was also streamed by 1.6 million, a record for NBC's Peacock service.

Though a drab blowout, the game's TV ratings are up 35 percent from 2021's Bears-Rams opener on SNF. 

Earlier last Sunday afternoon, Fox averaged 18.5 million viewers for coverage featuring Packers-Vikings - up 12 percent in viewership from 2021. The network's early-window coverage featuring 49ers-Bears averaged 12.1 million, up seven percent.

CBS pulled 17.3 million for coverage featuring the Steelers’ dramatic overtime win over the Bengals, up 21 percent in viewership from last year and the network’s most-watched early game in Week 1 of the season since 1998. The network’s late game - featuring the Chiefs’ rout of the Cardinals - was less of a draw at only 16.6 million.

Last year's season opener between the Cowboys and Buccaneers finished as one of the NFL's Top 5 watched games of 2021.

Bolstered by soap-opera drama, passionate fans on both sides and a plethora of former players and coaches in booths across the country, the Cowboys - win, lose or draw -remain America's (TV) Team.

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Richie Whitt
RICHIE WHITT

Richie Whitt has been a sports media fixture in Dallas-Fort Worth since graduating from UT-Arlington in 1986. His career is highlighted by successful stints in print (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), TV (NBC5) and radio (105.3 The Fan). During his almost 40-year tenure, he's blabbed and blogged on events ranging from Super Bowls to NBA Finals to World Series to Stanley Cups to Olympics to Wimbledons to World Cups. Whitt has been covering the NFL since 1989, and in 1993 authored The 'Boys Are Back, a book chronicling the Dallas Cowboys' run to Super Bowl XXVII.

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