After years of declines Bart Starr Jersey , NFL television ratings are showing modest gains.Three of the league¡¯s television partners have shown increases after the first nine weeks of the season while one remains flat. That is welcome news after ratings decreased 9.7 percent last season and 8 percent in 2016.¡°I¡¯m glad the league has turned the corner. The top teams are very exciting and there are plenty of high-scoring games,¡± said Neal Pilson, the former president of CBS Sports who now runs his own sports television consulting company.Pilson said a major ratings driver has been the emergence of young quarterbacks like the Rams¡¯ Jared Goff, the Chiefs¡¯ Patrick Mahomes and the Bears¡¯ Mitchell Trubisky. That has created a buzz not only with their teams but throughout the league.Another factor is that player protests against social and racial injustice during the national anthem have not been a major storyline this season. Pilson noted that ¡°a few of those folks who said they were going to stop watching I don¡¯t know how many did.¡±NBC¡¯s ¡°Sunday Night Football¡± package has shown the biggest improvement with an 8 percent increase from last season. It is averaging 19.7 million viewers, compared to 18.3 million last season.This past Sunday¡¯s game between the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots averaged a league-high 23.7 million, and was the largest prime-time audience on any network since ABC aired the Academy Awards in March. NBC has seen increases all but one week compared to last season.¡°We¡¯re looking forward to the second half of our schedule, which features many crucial divisional matchups, the Thanksgiving night game, plus the Week 17 flex game. We expect ¡®Sunday Night Football¡¯ to finish atop the prime-time rankings yet again,¡± NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus said in a statement.ESPN¡¯s ¡°Monday Night Football¡± is averaging 11.418 million, which is up 3 percent (11.135 million). Pilson has been critical of scheduling for Thursday and Monday nights in past seasons, but he said the league has made improvements in those areas. ESPN will have one of the marquee games of the season on Nov. 19 when Kansas City faces the Los Angeles Rams in Mexico City.¡°For years I thought that they were burying those two nights but they have improved dramatically,¡± he said.CBS¡¯s Sunday afternoon games are averaging 15.713 million viewers, which is up 1 percent from last season (15.528 million). This past Sunday¡¯s slate of five games, which was headlined by Pittsburgh at Baltimore, had a 10.0 household rating, which was up 23 percent from the same week last season.CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus, whose network has the 2019 Super Bowl, has been pleased with advertising sales for the rest of the season and the Feb. 3 championship game in Atlanta.¡°There are a number of very good stories. Kansas City is a team of national interest Ray Nitschke Color Rush Jersey , Mahomes has become a legit star and a lot of the big teams ¡ª including New Orleans, Pittsburgh and New England ¡ª are playing very well,¡± he said.Fox¡¯s Sunday afternoon coverage is averaging more viewers than CBS at 17.299 million, but this is a decrease of less than 1 percent from last season (17.414 million).The only package that has sharply declined is Thursday Night Football. It is averaging 12.522 million viewers in its first season on Fox, which is down from the 14.134 million on CBS last season. Fox is hopeful that the numbers can rebound over the next month, which includes Green Bay at Seattle (Nov. 15), New Orleans at Dallas (Nov. 29) and the Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City (Dec. 13).Pilson and McManus think the league¡¯s overall improvements could carry through the second half. That¡¯s even better news for McManus, as he sees a number of potential Super Bowl matchups that would bode well for CBS.¡°I¡¯m encouraged. There are a lot of good storylines that will carry throughout the next couple months,¡± he said. ¡°With so much going on that is negative, people are looking for an escape and football provides that for a lot of people.¡± GREEN BAY (3-3-1) at NEW ENGLAND (6-2)Sunday, 8:20 p.m. EST, NBCOPENING LINE ¡ª Patriots by 7 ½More Packers coverage from FOX Sports WisconsinPhotos of the Week: 7/21/19 ¨C 7/27/19Packers rookie Gary¡¯s biggest critic is himselfTop Tweets: Former Badger TJ Watt has impressive four-year transformationPHOTOS: 2019 Green Bay Packers training campPackers¡¯ Rodgers, LaFleur ironing out offense, building chemistryRECORD VS. SPREAD ¡ª Packers 3-4, Patriots 5-3SERIES RECORD ¡ª Packers lead 6-5LAST MEETING ¡ª Packers beat Patriots 26-21, Nov. 30, 2014LAST WEEK ¡ª Packers lost to Rams 29-27, Patriots beat Bills 25-6AP PRO32 RANKING ¡ª Packers No. 12, Patriots No. 3PACKERS OFFENSE ¡ª OVERALL (5) https://www.thepackersfanshop.com/Reggie-White-Jersey , RUSH (21), PASS (5).PACKERS DEFENSE ¡ª OVERALL (12), RUSH (22), PASS (5).PATRIOTS OFFENSE ¡ª OVERALL (11), RUSH (13), PASS (13).PATRIOTS DEFENSE ¡ª OVERALL (25), RUSH (14), PASS (22).STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES ¡ª Regular-season series tied 5-5. ¡­ Patriots hosting Packers for first time since 37-27 win at Gillette Stadium on Dec. 19, 2010. ¡­ Packers¡¯ win in 2014 was lone previous meeting between Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady as starting quarterbacks. They combined for 613 passing yards and four touchdowns in Green Bay¡¯s five-point victory at Lambeau Field. ¡­ Rodgers (103.6) and Brady (97.6) rank first and third, respectively, in NFL history in career passer rating and are only active players with multiple AP Most Valuable Player Awards (Brady three, Rodgers two). ¡­ Packers won lone playoff meeting, defeating Patriots 35-21 in Super Bowl during 1996 season. ¡­ Packers coach Mike McCarthy¡¯s 134 overall wins are most in the NFC and second only to Patriots coach Bill Belichick for most wins in NFL since 2006. ¡­ Rodgers has at least two TD passes in five of his past six games vs. AFC. ¡­ WR Davante Adams has 31 catches for 373 yards and three TDs in past four games vs. AFC. Since 2016, he¡¯s one of two receivers (Pittsburgh¡¯s Antonio Brown) with at least 2,500 yards receiving (2,572) yards and 25 or more TD catches (28). ¡­ LB Clay Matthews has three sacks and forced fumble in four career road games vs. AFC East. ¡­ Patriots looking for 10th straight home victory. ¡­ Brady has 300 or more passing yards in three of his past four games. He has eight TD passes and no interceptions in his past three games against Green Bay. ¡­ RB James White had 94 yards from scrimmage and rushing TD in Week 8. Looking for his fourth game with at least 90 scrimmage yards. White has four TD catches in his past three games vs. NFC. ¡­ TE Rob Gronkowski had seven catches for 98 yards in last meeting. ¡­ DE Trey Flowers has seven tackles for loss and four sacks in his past seven at home. ¡­ Fantasy Tip: Brady has thrown for at least 300 yards 14 times in Sunday night games.