Our cartographically gifted friends from The506.com are back again with their awesome NFL broadcast maps, telling you and us which games matter most – and least – in the eyes of the networks.
The Ravens-Patriots showdown in Foxboro is our game of the week on SI.com, and the network's game of the week, too: it draws CBS's No. 1 crew of Nantz-Simms. However, with the eyeball gang broadcasting seven games over two time slots Sunday, Baltimore-New England generates only regional coverage across the Eastern seaboard and into the South. The No. 2 crew of Gumbel-Dierdorf call the cross-regional Jets-Broncos game.
It's like the Civil War all over again, with the nation neatly divided along Northern and Southern states. In this case, pretend that Pennsylvania and Ohio sided with the Confederacy which, come to think of it, probably would have swing the balance of power in favor of Dixie.
But we digress: the highly compelling Falcons-Eagles battle between birds of pigskin prey draws the network's No. 2 crew of Albert-Johnston-Siragusa and widespread distribution from the Mid-Atlantic, across the South and into the major media markets of the California coast.
Seattle-Chicago will be seen across most of the northern markets from the Midwest through the Pacific Northwest.
Sure, BrettFavre and the Cowboys both suck in their own unique ways. They're a combined 2-6 and lead the league in our WTF?! Index.
As we noted this week, the Vikings are the worst quarterbacked team in the NFL. The Cowboys are the worst coached team in the NFL.
But America's Gunslinger and America's Team are eternal draws in the eyes of football fans and the networks. Either that, or people just want to see a train wreck. Naturally, Fox's No. 1 crew of Buck-Aikman call the game, which generates the widest distribution of any afternoon game in Week 6.
