It was the Manning Bowl III on Sunday, and CBS got the touchdown. As brother Peyton and his Denver Broncos beat younger brother Eli and his New York Giants 41-23, the network scored its best NFL On CBS ratings results for its first nationally televised game of the season since it re-acquired football rights in 1998. With Jacksonville-Oakland on too, the Week 2 doubleheader drew a 17.8/24 overnight rating and share in metered markets. That’s up a strong 24% from the 14.4/28 of last year’s Week 2 NY Jets-Pittsburgh and Tennessee-San Diego games. It is also the day’s best NFL rating — including NBC’s primetime Sunday Night Football. The previous NFL On CBS high was September 19, 2010, when the New England-NY Jets game drew a 16.7/32. By the way, this is the third time in a row that Peyton has beat Eli in a regular-season game. Maybe the next Manning Bowl will come in this year’s Super Bowl?
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