Jets, Zach Wilson draw more TV viewers than Chiefs, Cowboys through Week 5
When Aaron Rodgers went down with a season-ending Achilles injury on opening night, the "New York Jets Show" seemed over. But people are still tuning in, allowing quarterback Zach Wilson and his crew to garner the NFL's biggest audience through Week 5.
In three national broadcast games, the team is averaging 24.4 million linear TV viewers each contest, per Sportico.
Among other teams that have at least two national games this season, the Kansas City Chefs are the second-most popular. Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the gang trail the Jets by a margin of 150,000 viewers per slot. The Dallas Cowboys hold third place and would need almost 1 million more viewers each matchup to tie the leader.
The Cowboys and Chiefs both beat the Jets on the field this season in Weeks 2 and 4, respectively. New York surely got a viewership boost from those games, as both teams have staggering fan bases. However, performance could play a role in the ratings this season.
Kansas City's Taylor Swift ties continue to make headlines, but the reigning Super Bowl champions are often expected to win. A predictable outcome won't always lead fans to watch a game until the clock runs out, and the Cowboys' viewing experience suffers from a similar lack of surprise. Dallas has participated in plenty of blowouts over its four national spots this season, winning or losing by an average margin of 31.8 points. The league average is 12.6 points per game this season.
Its 2-3 record aside, New York's big offseason did a lot of leg work to draw viewers' attention. People tuned into HBO's "Hard Knocks" to watch Rodgers, the Jets' new blockbuster acquisition. The training camp docuseries depicted the veteran quarterback as the key to the team's first Super Bowl quest in 54 years, while introducing some fans to his supporting cast. An audience of 22.6 million TV viewers tuned in as Rodgers' season ended in just four snaps in Week 1. Those viewers are apparently still watching, and interesting aspects of the offseason live on.
The Jets' Week 5 win over the Denver Broncos is the perfect example of one of the team's engaging storylines continuing. Rodgers sent NFL media into a frenzy when he called Broncos head coach Sean Payton "insecure" for bad-mouthing Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who coached Denver last season. On Sunday, the Jets came out with a 31-21 win in Hackett's honor, giving him the game ball and directing some expletives toward Payton and the Broncos.
This weekend will be a different story, as the Jets host the formidable Philadelphia Eagles during Fox’s 4:25 p.m. ET slot. Viewers will have another option during that window, as the NFL flexed the Detroit Lions' matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers into the same slot.
