Fans in the nation’s capital apparently weren’t interested in watching Mark Sanchez take on the New York Giants this past Sunday.
With his Washington Redskins battling for a playoff spot, Sanchez came up empty in every possible way. The end result was Sanchez being benched in favor of Josh Johnson en route to a 40-16 loss against the last-place Giants.
Meanwhile, the first-place Dallas Cowboys defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in Big D later in the afternoon — pretty much wrapping up the NFC East title in the process. That game was among the most drama filled of the NFL season.
And the television ratings tell us a story that’s in no way kind to the Redskins. In fact, the Cowboys-Eagles game scored better television ratings in the D.C. market than the game featuring the local team.
🚨🚨Skins TV ratings news🚨 🚨
* The Redskins-Giants game on Fox got a 14.0 rating in the DC market.
* The Eagles-Cowboys game, also on Fox, got a 19.8 rating in the DC market.— Dan Steinberg (@dcsportsbog) December 10, 2018
That’s about as embarrassing as it gets. Sure D.C. boasts a transient population. But in no way does that mean they should have posted lower television ratings than the hated Cowboys.
Now at 6-7 on the season, Washington is pretty much completely out of the NFC Playoff race. We don’t expect interest in the product to pick up as the season draws to a conclusion.