Yes, even in a blowout, America always tunes into the Cowboys and whichever team they’re playing. That held true Sunday night in Dallas’ lopsided win over the Eagles.
The Cowboys and Eagles, on paper, were prime-time worthy and befitting of a time slot that usually generates the highest-audience of the week, no matter the game. The Eagles are the defending NFC champions. The Cowboys want to be the top seed. Beating Philadelphia, 33-13,, goes along way towards that goal.
With revised numbers coming in Tuesday morning, NBC Sports said that the Cowboys-Eagles game averaged 26.5 million people across all NBC platforms. That made the game the most watched December Sunday Night Football contest since 2016.
As expected, the top two markets were Dallas and Philadelphia. San Antonio and Austin were Nos. 3 and 4. Texans love their Cowboys, except maybe in Houston.
NBC also stated that the audience peaked at 30.2 million during the 8:15-8:30 p.m. time window, Texas time. The Cowboys owned a 24-6 lead at halftime. But the game, briefly, became competitive early in the third quarter. That’s when Fletcher Cox strip sacked Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. Rookie defensive tackle Jalen Carter returned the fumble for a touchdown. That was the Eagles’ most dramatic moment of the game.
Cowboys’ Thanksgiving game pulled in blockbuster TV numbers
The Cowboys answered the touchdown with a 59-yard field goal from Brandon Aubrey. The Cowboys held the Eagles on downs on the next drive, then forced a fumble. After each Philly miscue, Dallas kicked a field goal.
Attracting big audiences is what the Cowboys do. Back on Thanksgiving, the Dallas-Washington game averaged 41.8 million viewers watching via TV or digital. Although the Cowboys won going away, 45-10, the audience still was the second-biggest TV audience ever. It didn’t beat last year’s Thanksgiving Day game between the Cowboys-Giants. That drew an audience of 42 million. Nor did it beat the audience of the 49ers-Giants game from way back in 1990. On a special Monday Night Football game, 41.74 million tuned into watch Joe Montana battle Lawrence Taylor and the Giants defense. Meanwhile, NY QB Phil Simms needed to deal with Ronnie Lott and the San Fran D. It ended as a 7-3 affair.
The Thanksgiving TV numbers for the Cowboys also featured an audience higher than the averages for each of the first two rounds of last year’s NFL playoffs. The game never was competitive. But the audience stuck around with Prescott throwing four touchdown passes. Dallas cornerback Daron Bland‘s 63-yard pick-six broke the NFL single-season record for most interception returns for a TD. And fans got to see country superstar Dolly Parton perform her halftime show at AT&T Stadium.
A week after Thanksgiving, the Cowboys-Seahawks attracted the largest audience ever for the fledgling Thursday Night Football franchise on Amazon Prime. The Cowboys travel to Orchard Park, NY this Sunday for a game against the Bills. That matchup surely will pump up the numbers for Fox.
The first Cowboys-Eagles game, played in week nine, drew 27.1 million. That’s the second highest Sunday night audience this season.
More must-reads: