Traina Thoughts: Good Games Can't Help NFL Playoff Ratings

Despite three close games, ratings plummet for NFL Divisional Round.

1. Three of the four NFL playoff games this past weekend were competitive, but that did not help the ratings. Just like the previous week, all four windows were down from the rating it pulled a year ago. Here's the breakdown:

Falcons-Eagles did a 17.4 rating -- down 5 percent from Seahawks-Falcons  (18.3) last year.

Titans-Patriots did a 16.6 rating -- down 9 percent from Texans-Patriots (18.2) last year.

Jaguars-Steelers did a 20.4 rating -- down 7 percent from Steelers-Chiefs (21.9) last year.

Saints-Vikings did a 21.8 rating -- down 23 percent from Packers-Cowboys (28.2) last year.

My colleague, Richard Deitsch, has a full breakdown of the ratings battle the NFL is facing this weekend for the two conference championship games. It's hard to imagine the ratings for either game increasing over a year ago given the trend this season. The fascinating aspect of this situation is what Roger Goodell and the NFL do next year to reverse the trend. Given people's viewing habits are changing daily thanks to cord cutting, the lack of star power at quarterback and the games having no flow because of replays, inept referees and constant commercials, there may not be anything the NFL can do to fix the issue for the 2018 season.

2. The best part of the ridiculous story about Chris Paul and other Rockets players trying to sneak into the Clippers locker room for a fight last night was the reaction of Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley.

3. It's no coincidence that on the day Peoplereported that Blake Griffin and Kendall Jenner are "cooling off," that Griffin put up 29 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists while being feisty and aggressive all night. He also went savage on Twitter (where he's been low key lately) using a GIF to sum up his role in the Clippers-Rockets angst and provided much humor in his postgame press conference. It's good to have him back away from the Kardashian curse.

4. D'Angelo Russell got him with the most ridiculous technical foul in NBA history last night.

5. The WWE will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Monday Night Raw next week. Here's a fun look back at The 7 Most Outrageous Moments in "Raw" history. 

6. And so it begins. A few early Super Bowl prop bets are now up on 5Dimes.com.

5Dimes.com

7. Braun Strowan flipped over a production truck on Monday Night Raw last night.

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BONUS ITEM: Potential Super Bowl lines look like this right now: Vikings -5 vs. Jaguars, Jaguars -3 vs. Eagles, Patriots -3 vs. Vikings, Patriots -6.5 vs. Eagles.