National Football League

Tebow miracle scores huge ratings

Published Jan. 10, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Denver's stunning 29-23 AFC Wild Card victory over Pittsburgh on Sunday scored huge numbers for CBS.

The game, highlighted by Tim Tebow's 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime, averaged a 25.9 overnight rating -- the biggest overnight Wild Card numbers in 24 years (since Seattle-Houston snared a 26.7 in January 1988 on NBC).

Sunday's game peaked with a 31.6 from 8:00pm to 8:15pm, according to Nielsen.

Denver, which was the underdog going into Sunday's matchup against the Steelers, blew a two-touchdown, fourth-quarter lead -- at home -- before Tebow connected on his 80-yard pass to Demaryius Thomas.

Over on FOX, which is owned by News Corp., also the owner of the New York Post and NewsCore, the Giants' dominating 24-2 Wild Card victory over Atlanta averaged 28 million viewers and was up one percent over last year's NFC Wild Card Game on CBS.

The game peaked with 31.1 million viewers at 3:00pm.