‘Thursday Night Football’ Ratings Fall Hard From Last Week’s Season High & 2017

If last night’s blowout of the Carolina Panthers by the Tennessee Titans proves anything it is that what goes up also goes down.

Fueled by a triumphant and NFL history books rewriting performance by running back Derrick Henry, the Volunteer State team crushed the Panthers 30-9. With 238 yards overall and four touchdowns on less than 20 carries, Henry rose now to be 19th in the NFL history with the most rushing yards in a single game. Perhaps more telling for the stats, the Titians star is the second player ever to score a rushing touchdown of more than 90 yards and one of 50 or more yards in the same single game.

Watch some of that magic here:

DERRICK HENRY WENT BEASTMODE!!! 😱😱😱

99 YARDS. #TitanUp

📺: @nflnetwork + @NFLonFOX
📱+💻: https://t.co/DJUityQHC9 pic.twitter.com/wOe7cktiyE

— NFL (@NFL) December 7, 2018

Magic, however, did not translate into rising ratings for Fox and the NFL Network. In fact, with two less than large market teams on the field, gravity took its toll both week-to-week and year-to-year.

Down 45% from the season high of last week’s Dallas Cowboy win over the New Orleans Saints, last night’s TNF drew an 8.0/14 in metered market results, according to Nielsen.

While no season low, that’s also a stumble of 22% off what the Week 14 TNF of last season pulled in the early metric when the Saints lost to the Atlanta Falcons on December 7, 2017 on NBC and the NFL Network.

That November 29 game of Dallas v. NOLA ended up at the near airless heights of a 6.4/26 rating and 21.3 million viewers – again a season best. The Saints v. Falcons match-up of Week 14 of last year delivered a 4.3/17 rating among adults 18-49 with 14.6 million tuning in.

Right now, in certain to change fast affiliate numbers, last night’s TNF is showing a 2.2/10 demo rating and an audience of 7.8 million.

Honestly, Derrick Henry deserved more.

Having said that, even with the noticeable declines, Fox is the clear winner among the Big 4 and the CW overall for Thursday.