FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The Patriots capped their 2018 regular season campaign with a 38-3 win over the New York Jets on Sunday to secure a first-round playoff bye for an NFL-record 10th consecutive year and finish the year with an 11-5 record and the AFC's second seed in the postseason.
With the victory, the Patriots also won the top spot in the local market television ratings with a 35.3 household rating and 66 market share. The rating marked a 5 percent increase over last year's Week 17 matchup, also a 1 p.m. contest against the Jets.
Through 16 games, the Patriots delivered a 35.0 average household rating in 2018, which is the highest average rating for the team since 2015 when they boasted a 39.9 average. This season also provided a 4 percent increase in ratings, year over year, from 2017.
Additionally, the Patriots delivered the highest TV rating in the local market for 15 of 16 weeks in the regular season and 19 of 20 weeks including the preseason. The lone exception came in Week 8 when Game 5 of the World Series (43.2 rating) beat out the Patriots' contest against the Bills (37.3 rating) on ESPN's Monday Night Football.
Nationally, the Patriots earned the highest rating of the 2018 season amongst all games with a 16.5 household rating in their Week 15 matchup against the Steelers, a 4:25 game on CBS. In total, the Patriots played half their games in either the 4:25 or primetime nationally televised timeslot in 2018.
The Patriots will return to action on Sunday, Jan. 13 in the AFC Divisional Playoff. The game will kick off at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally on CBS with Jim Nantz and Tony Romo calling the game from the booth and Tracy Wolfson providing analysis from the sideline. The Patriots' opponent will be determined after Wild Card weekend.
