The NFL is king of the TV ratings hill, and climbing

Thinking out loud … while wondering if the world doesn’t suck, then why don’t we all fly off the planet?

Would you be surprised to learn … that of the top 100 TV shows for 2023, the first 14 are all NFL broadcasts?

Would you also be surprised to learn that streaming the NFL — and sports in general — is up 14% from 2022? Let’s put it this way. We ain’t going back to the days of three channels and rabbit ears on your TV set anytime soon.

Especially since the streaming number for Thursday Night Football on Amazon is now higher than the rating for regular ol’ linear television watching the same thing in 2021.

So, you’d best figure out how and where to find your favorite events on the TV screen in this brave, new world. Or hire a kid to figure it out for you, boomah!

More: Here are the Patriots studs and duds from Sunday's loss at Buffalo

• Hate to say it, in case you’ve missed it, but the Patriots are no longer one of the NFL’s "Joneses."

• Trent Brown may be the perfect symbol of what’s wrong in New England. The man is 6 feet 8 inches and 370 pounds (give or take) and could be confused for a human solar eclipse. But when it comes to blocking out other things, like humans coming after the quarterback, he can’t be bothered with blocking at all.

• Block this out: Next year's Patriots opponents are pretty much set, with a last-place divisional finish clinched for the first time since 2000. Just waiting on either the Bears or Vikings to finish last in the NFC North … and you can plan your trip to either sun spot.

• In Foxboro: Bills, Dolphins, Jets, Texans, Colts, Rams, Seahawks, Chargers. Meh.

• How about this? Out of the 32 teams, 20 are still in contention for a trip to the Super Bowl going into Week 18. That ties the record for the most in the last 41 years, since 22 (out of 28 teams) were still eligible going into the final week of the 1982 season.

• If a move is to be made regarding Bill Belichick’s future, expect it to come quickly once the season has ended after Sunday. The longer this lingers, the more likely we’re all onto 2024 — with Bill.

• Can you really see a Tom Brady Patriots Hall of Fame induction next June without BB as coach?

• Jerod Mayo expressed surprise that he’s rubbing some people in the organization the wrong way, according to a report in the Boston Sports Journal. The way we should all look at it — if you’re not rubbing someone the wrong way, you’re probably not doing it the right way.

More: Who will coach the Patriots in 2024? Here are 8 realistic candidates for next season

• Anyone else notice that Mike Vrabel’s contract is up after this season in Tennessee? Anyone else notice that when he was inducted into the Patriots’ Hall of Fame two months ago, he told the Gillette Stadium crowd at his halftime celebration that we have a game to get back to?

• Oh, to be Jim Harbaugh: Coaching Michigan for the national championship this week, or possibly returning to the NFL. Cha-ching either way.

• X post of the Week I, from @DanWetzel: “If you have an issue with a baseball stadium hosting a football game sponsored by a cloud storage system named after a Japanese horseradish kicking off at 11 am on a Thursday, then I’m not sure we can be friends.”

• This week’s sign of the Apocalypse: The most-mentioned, talked-about and viewed “secondary” bowl game involved the toasting and eating of the Pop Tarts Bowl mascot. I heard it was yummy.

• Speaking of Harbaugh and the College Football Playoff, you’d have to say the committee got it right, based on the two semifinal games — one in overtime, the other decided on the last play of regulation.

• And based on Florida State’s no-show in the Orange Bowl, with a whopping 29 players opting out at last count. The result was predictable, a 63-3 shellacking from a Georgia team still smarting from its CFP exclusion.

And they want out of the ACC? They should be kicked out for that. Any character in Tallahassee, or just characters? Just sayin’.

• Something to wonder about as we leap into the leap year: Can Las Vegas sustain the attention and attraction of professional sports it has already achieved? NFL, NHL, WNBA, Formula 1 racing, the NBA In-Season Tournament — and MLB on the way.

• Speaking of Vegas, the American Gaming Association projects the total sports betting handle for 2023 will come in north of $100 billion. From January to September, it was already at $78.7 billion. In New York alone, a monthly state record of $2.1 billion was wagered in November.

• Front Office Sports reported this week that the launch of ESPNBet helped fuel handle records in both Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. You can also expect the NCAA, led by former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, to soon turn its attention to sports wagering since the U.S. betting market is about 100 times the size of the name, image and likeness business.

• X post of the Week II, from @tsnmike: “Sorry to be that guy, but you might have noticed the college basketball postseason #MarchMadness needs neither mayonnaise nor toaster pastries to be interesting.”

• There’s another Gonzaga rumor running around out in the blogosphere. Wonder why the Big 12 keeps popping up in the discussion as a potential landing spot? The league is keeping that possibility alive, because the Zags and three West Coast Conference "partners" could wind up joining forces with the Big East.

• The Friars’ Big East start couldn’t have been better. Then came Wednesday night at the AMP, when the crowd of nearly 12,000 fans was treated to the awful sight — and sound — of Bryce Hopkins’ season ending, going down onto the floor with a torn ACL in his left knee.

Injury is always a possibility in competition. But that doesn’t make what happened Wednesday any easier to accept. Coach Kim English and the Friars now have a huge task ahead of them as the Big East grind begins to take hold — four of the next five games are on the road, beginning this weekend against Creighton in Omaha.

Win your home games + keep your head level on the road = NCAA. But that equation just became harder to calculate when you’ll be missing a first-team All-Big East forward in your lineup.

• Former DePaul player and coach Joey Meyer passed away last week at age 74. Meyer played for his father, the legendary Ray Meyer, and succeeded him as coach. He took seven DePaul teams to the NCAA Tournament before a 3-23 season in 1996-97 ended a 55-year Meyer run in Chicago.

• Rhody bounced back this week, and in a big way, beating St. Joseph’s, 78-74, in their A-10 opener Wednesday in Kingston. The Rams have won their last two, improving to 7-7, thanks in large part to the emergence of 6-foot-7-inch transfer David Green, who had a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double against the Hawks.

Let’s stress the importance of this one for URI. St. Joe’s (10-3 overall) has one of the better non-league wins in the Atlantic-10 with a victory over Villanova. They shoot it well, usually, and play strong defense. Rhody’s inside play with Green and David Fuchs combined for 29 points and 20 rebounds.

• Bryant (8-7) begins play in America East this weekend at Maryland-Baltimore County after losing on the road to SEC member and 24th-ranked Ole Miss. Brown gets Yale in its Ivy opener at home Tuesday after dropping two tight ones to Stony Brook and Vermont.

• While Tammi Reiss’ URI women are off to a 2-0 start (with four straight wins overall) in the A-10, kudos to PC’s Erin Batth and the Friars. Providence defeated DePaul at Alumni Hall on Wednesday to snap a 23-game losing streak to the Blue Demons. PC is 2-0 in the Big East (8-7 overall) for the first time since 1999-2000.

• Not for nothin’, but PC’s hockey Friars are back up to No. 9 in the national polls this week, after defeating Brown for their seventh Mayor’s Cup in the last eight tries.

• Former Providence Bruins forward Georgii Merkulov has a cool back story, ICYMI. Called up by Boston last week after scoring 30 points in 31 AHL games this season, Merkulov left Russia for more hockey opportunities in the United States, winding up in the USHL and then for a year at Ohio State.

Merkulov is likely to see some time upcoming as Boston’s third-line center — after achieving his dream of suiting up in the NHL.

• My buddy, “Big E,” says his New Year's resolution is a simple one. He’ll use more than just Twitter (or “X”) to get his news. He’ll work in a little Facebook every now and then, too.

• We kinda knew, didn’t we, that the “For Sale” sign was hanging outside of Fenway Park this winter?

And yet, the trade to Atlanta bringing infielder Vaughn Grissom to Boston was a pretty good one, considering the Red Sox’s ever-apparent need for pitching.

That six-year deal for Sale, for $160 million, was fraught with trouble as nine trips to the injured list would attest. But say this for Sale — he gave what he had, and all he had, when he had it.

• The current high price for big league pitching, and the need for the Braves to try to keep up with the Dodgers in the National League, gave the Sox an opportunistic trade partner.

• Maybe the Celtics do have the best record in the NBA. But the eye test tells me that Boston’s defense, if they choose to play any, will determine whether or not they can hang Banner No. 18. The third-quarter (lack of) effort is a real issue.

But I do like me some Kristaps Porzingis — if he can choose to stay healthy. And Derrick White’s play, plus his shooting ability, does tend to make you forget about Marcus what’s-his-name. Amiright?

Interested in having your questions on Rhode Island sports (and, yes, that includes the Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics) answered in a somewhat timely fashion? Think out loud and send your questions, comments and local stories to jrbroadcaster@gmail.com. We’ll share mailbag comments/Facebook posts/threads right here! Join me on Twitter/X, @JRbroadcaster…on Facebook, www.facebook.com/john.rooke, and on Instagram and Threads @JRbroadcaster.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: The NFL is king of the TV ratings hill, and climbing