The Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints proved to be a big draw for Sunday Night Football, with Fast National returns for the game up 23 percent from last week. NBC's early average for the game leads the night with a 7.0 rating among adults 18-49 and 19.3 million viewers. NBC, which also aired 90 minutes of Football Night in America (2.0, 3.2, 5.2 adults), averaged a 5.7 rating with adults 18-49 and 15.8 million viewers.
CBS' returns are also subject to significant change, with football overrun delaying the primetime block by 47 minutes. Preliminary returns for 60 Minutes (2.9 adults), The Amazing Race (1.9 adults), The Good Wife (1.5 adults) and The Mentalist (1.3 adults) give the network a nightly average of a 3.0 rating with adults 18-49 and 13.1 million viewers.
The boosted NFL coverage brought dips across the board on Fox. The Simpsons (1.9 adults) lost half of a point from last week, as did Family Guy (2.0 adults), while Bob's Burgers (1.5 adults) and American Dad (1.6 adults) both shed three-tenths. Fox averaged a 1.6 rating with adults 18-49 and 3.6 million viewers.
America's Funniest Home Videos (1.3 adults) kicked off the night on ABC, off a tenth from last week's high. Once Upon a Time (2.1 adults) was down two-tenths to tie a season low, but still managed to best all of the night's scripted offerings. Revenge (1.4 adults) shed three-tenths of a point to tie a series low, while Betrayal (0.8 adults) was down two-tenths. ABC took a 1.4 adults rating and 5.6 million viewers.
