Cowboys-Redskins clash draws best TV ratings in 20 years

Whether it was a lack of holiday viewing competition or genuine interest in two of the NFL’s hottest teams, the Dallas Cowboys’ 31-26 victory over the rival Washington Redskins on Thanksgiving Day was a television ratings bonanza.

Fox Sports said Thursday’s game averaged 35.1 million viewers, more than any regular-season game in the network’s history, which dates to 1994. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello tweeted that it was the most-watched regular-season game for any network since the 1995 Thanksgiving Day game between the 9-2 Cowboys and 10-1 Kansas City Chiefs, which drew 35.7 million viewers.

The Cowboys won that game and would eventually beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXX for the Cowboys’ third championship in four seasons.

In a year where declining NFL ratings have caused widespread consternation, maybe all the networks needed was a good matchup. The Cowboys entered the game on a nine-game winning streak while the Redskins had won six of their last eight.

For the Cowboys, all the attention was hardly new.

Of the NFL season’s five most-watched games, the Cowboys have been in four of them, with the Thanksgiving Day game leading the way. Dallas also drew big numbers against the Steelers (28.9 million) earlier this month, against the Green Bay Packers (28.0 million) in October, and against the New York Giants (27.5 million) in September’s season opener.

The only game in the top five this season that didn’t include the Cowboys was Thursday’s early game matching the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings, which drew 27.6 million.

This story was originally published November 25, 2016 at 8:25 PM with the headline "Cowboys-Redskins clash draws best TV ratings in 20 years."