Cowboys-Saints matchup provides historic spike in ratings

The longest winning streak in the NFL came to an end Thursday night. And a lot of people witnessed it. The Dallas Cowboys shut down Drew Brees and the high-powered New Orleans' offense in a 13-10 victory, ending the Saints' run of 10 straight victories and handing them their first loss since Week 1. It was the fourth consecutive win for Dallas (7-5) and proved, at least for one night, that they truly are America's Team -- with an assist from New Orleans. The marquee matchup drew an overnight rating of 14.6, according to Sports Business Journal. That marked the highest overnight rating for a Thursday game in league history. It continued a trend of increased viewership on Thursday. One week ago, all three Thanksgiving Day games had higher ratings than a year ago, including a 28 percent bump from the prime-time matchup between the Saints and Atlanta Falcons. Dallas' late afternoon matchup against the rival Washington Redskins on Thanksgiving also saw an uptick of 16 percent from a year ago. Thursday's game was helped by the national visibility of both franchises as well as the postseason ramifications involved. New Orleans (10-2) had a chance to clinch the NFC South title with a win and held the inside track on the top overall seed and home-field advantage in the playoffs before the loss. The Cowboys (7-5) continued their late-season surge and are assured of being in at least a tie for first place in the NFC East by the end of this weekend's games. Television ratings have been a source of concern for both the NFL and the major networks. In January, ESPN reported that ratings for NFL games dropped nearly 10 percent during the 2017 regular season, based on Nielsen findings. An NFL game was watched by an average of 14.9 million people last season, compared with 16.5 million in 2016. That represented a drop of 1.6 million viewers, a 9.7 percent reduction. That number continued an ongoing decline in NFL viewership. An NFL game was watched by an average of 17.9 million people in 2015, and viewership dropped 1.4 million, or 8 percent, in 2016.