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Apparently Sunday afternoon’s Wild Card game against the Philadelphia Eagles wasn’t just a big deal in Seattle.
It was a big deal around the country as well.
Gregg Bell is reporting that NBC claims the Seahawks vs. Eagles playoff game was one of the biggest ever.
NBC says last night's #Seahawks playoff win at Eagles was television's most-watched show since Super Bowl 53. Says 35.8M people watched on TV and digital.
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) January 6, 2020
The adjective-packed press release from NBC can be found here at NBCumv.com.
If true, that makes it the most-watched NFL game of the season, seeing as SB LIII happened in February of 2019.
It’s pretty remarkable how many records this game continues to break, what with DK Metcalf’s receiving record, Seattle’s wins in Philadelphia, and this very enviable list of injured starters:
We've never had seen an @NFL playoff game missing more injured starters.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) January 6, 2020
Seahawks (8)
Eagles (9)
17 Week 1 starters missed the game due to injury, the most under the current format (1970).@NFLResearch
Somehow, despite the fact that “the Seahawks sucks” (an actual quote), and Russell Wilson is “boring” (another quote), they’re also can’t-miss TV. Who knows, maybe people were just tuning in to see replays of that Jadeveon Clowney hit. Far more likely is the star power of Wilson, Marshawn Lynch, Metcalf and Tyler Lockett combined with ever meme-able shots of Pete Carroll’s gum chewing bonanza are keeping people dialed in.
Carroll’s team thrive under primetime lights, and every game from here on out is the primest of times. With the whole world watching*, the Seahawks will try to go 1-0 each week on the road to Super Bowl 54.
*I’m finding out that 35.8 million is only .00475% of the world population.
Merry New Year. Go Hawks.