The reality of the situation

Last week, the NFL was falling all over itself announcing it had the country's No. 1 and No. 2 prime-time rated shows..

This week ... well, when you consider Emmitt Smith's cha-cha was more important to some level-headed viewers, there can't be all that high-fiving around Roger Goodell's office.

NFL prime-time games ranked second and fourth for the week (9/11-9/17) among all programs. The Sunday night game on NBC (Redskins-Cowboys) ranked second (18.4 million viewers), while the CBS national game on Sunday (mostly Patriots-Jets and Chiefs-Broncos, while the L.A. market was stuck with Chargers-Titans) was the week’s No. 4 show (16.7 million viewers).
What was better? Ahem, ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars� ranked first; CBS’s “Survivor� was third for the week.

Oh, really?

Meanwhile, in what we've slowly come to realize is a pretty cool deal, the NFL Network (for those who have it) is replaying four games from the previous Sunday on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. On "NFL Replay," the New York Giants-Philadelphia game replays at 5 p.m., with the New York Jets-New England game at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at 5 p.m., it's New Orleans-Green Bay and at 7:30 p.m., it's Carolina-Minnesota.
They're edited down to 90-minute telecasts, with only the stuff that matters.