This is what I’m thinking:
So much for the idea that Buffalo Bills fans wouldn’t watch any more NFL playoff games following the team’s heartbreaking 42-36 overtime playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs after leading with 13 seconds left in regulation.
The Chiefs’ 27-24 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday in the AFC title game had a 34.0 rating on WIVB-TV, the local CBS affiliate.
According to CBS, Buffalo was the No. 4 market in the country for the game, behind only Kansas City, Cincinnati and nearby Dayton.Â
A rating point in Western New York represents 5,285 households, which means about 180,000 households were tuning in.
It isn’t fair to compare it to the 52.2 rating for the Bills’ playoff loss to the Chiefs in the 2021 AFC title because obviously more Buffalo fans would watch that game.
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The best year to compare the Bengals victory is to compare it to the local rating for Kansas City’s 35-24 AFC title victory over Tennessee in 2020, which also was carried at 3 p.m.
The Chiefs-Titans game in 2020 had a 30.7 rating, almost 10% lower than the rating for the Bengals-Chiefs game.
The Los Angeles Rams’ 20-17 playoff win over the San Francisco 49ers Sunday for the NFC title had a 27.7 rating on WUTV, the local Fox affiliate. That was slightly lower than the 29.1 rating for San Francisco’s 37-20 win over Green Bay two years ago.
The Bengals-Chiefs game had a higher rating than Los Angeles-San Francisco, which isn’t that surprising since WNY is an AFC market.
The Bengals-Rams Super Bowl on Feb. 13 likely will get a local rating in the 50s on NBC affiliate WGRZ-TV (Channel 2). That’s what the game usually gets in this market. Tampa Bay’s victory over Kansas City led by quarterback Tom Brady last year had a 51.3 local rating.
The Elmira to Buffalo shuffle involving Nexstar TV stations continues as WETM-TV’s Tara Lynch announced on social media that she is joining WIVB-TV (Channel 4) in March as a reporter.
WETM is the same station where anchor Jordan Norkus worked for almost two years before joining Channel 4 in late November.
WETM, WIVB and WNLO are all owned by Nexstar.
Elmira is the No. 178 TV market in the country while Buffalo is the No. 53 TV market.
Lynch is the granddaughter of Denny Lynch, the former director of public and community relations for the Bills.
Inquiring minds want to know: Where is WGRZ-TV morning anchor Pete Gallivan? He is recovering from shoulder surgery, which is why a variety of substitutes have been co-anchoring with Melissa Holmes lately on "Daybreak."
Former Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll was impressive answering questions this week from the New York media for the first time since being named the coach of the Giants.
Wearing a suit (who in Buffalo knew he owned one?), Daboll was direct, didn’t make any promises and even flashed some humor.
He called each reporter by their first name as they asked questions, something he might have learned from Bills coach Sean McDermott, who has a good first-name relationship with the press.
McDermott has been getting some understandable media criticism for his end game performance in the playoff loss to Kansas City. But it is nothing compared to what he would have faced from the New York media if he coached the Jets or Giants.
Daboll is smart to try and establish a first-name relationship with New York reporters and even charm them. But he undoubtedly realizes it won’t help him if he doesn’t turn the Giants into a winner relatively soon.
After all, two of the most successful Giants coaches, Bill Parcells and Tom Coughlin, weren’t exactly known for their charming personalities with the media.
