NFL Thanksgiving Day games always draw giant ratings for the league. When you throw two big market teams like the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants into the mix, you can only guess how massive the viewership will be.
How’s this for you? The most-watched regular season game in league history.
On Friday, the FOX Sports PR Twitter account announced that the Cowboys-Giants afternoon game drew a whopping 42 million viewers. That is the most-watched regular season game in the history of the league, and it was up 49 percent from last year’s FOX Thanksgiving broadcast featuring the Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions.
That broke a record that stood for 32 years. According to the Associated Press, a 1990 Monday night game featuring the San Francisco 49ers and Giants drew 41.55 million viewers. The AP noted that tracking for average viewership started in 1988.
The Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions played in the early afternoon slot on CBS. On Friday, CBS announced that the Bills-Lions game drew 31.627 million viewers.
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In a pivotal matchup that carried giant playoff implications, the Cowboys outlasted their division rivals 28-20, thanks to incredible outings from Micah Parsons (two sacks), Ezekiel Elliott (92 rushing yards and one touchdown), CeeDee Lamb (six catches, 106 yards) and Dak Prescott (21 completions for 261 yards and touchdowns).
The victory marked a crucial season-series sweep for the Cowboy, who also defeated the Giants in Week 3. Big Blue has now dropped three of their last four games, while the surging Cowboys have won four of their last five games.
Dallas will try to extend their winning streak to three games when they host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night next week. As for the slumping Giants, they’ll try to get back on track against another division rival in the red-hot Washington Commanders.
