It’s not like Sunday Night Football was in need of a signature moment last November when New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. made what many people called the greatest catch of all-time. The hugely successful NBC telecast was already well on its way to a fourth straight season as primetime television’s highest-rated and most-watched program.

But Beckham’s interstellar grab helped illustrate what makes the NFL in primetime so compelling: stars doing extraordinary things coupled with a seasoned broadcast team and high-grade production values. Not long before the catch, SNF aired a montage of Beckham practicing one-handed snatches before the game, shot by NBC cameras.

“The timing was unbelievable to me,” said sideline reported Michele Tafoya on a conference call with reporters last week. “I was just standing on the sidelines watching it and then turning to my monitor and watching how this whole thing unfolded. To me it was like, the stars aligned.”

Sunday Night Football kicks off its 10th anniversary season on Sunday night with the New York Giants taking on the Dallas Cowboys.

“After this whole off-season of craziness and headlines having very little to do with anything that takes place on the field itself, there almost seems to be, in a wild and wacky way, even more interest in football going into the season,” said Al Michaels, who has broadcast Sunday Night games since 2006, coming over from ABC along with coordinating producer Fred Gaudelli, who had previously spent half a decade producing Monday Night Football.

“It’s hard to believe that ten years have gone by,” Gaudelli said on the call. “When this series was launched, the big question was could America shift its viewing habits from Monday night, where the primetime game had aired for 35 years prior to Sunday night, and I think we all know the answer to that question.”

Indeed we do. Last year, SNF averaged a 12.5 household rating and 21.3 million average viewers according to Nielsen Media Research. The rating was actually the lowest since 2009, although its 21 share tied the highest number in the broadcast’s first nine years. The program also rated tops in the 18-49 demographic (7.7) and averaged 20 million viewers in 12 of its 18 regular season games.

While audiences were treated to one-handed catches and weekly showcases of the game’s biggest stars and franchises, they weren’t watching nail-biters. Last year’s slate of games was the most lopsided in the program’s history, with the average game being decided by nearly 19 points and three games decided by more than 25. And still the parade of dominant ratings marched on.

On the tech side, NBC will utilize a 360-degree camera for its Sunday night opener in Dallas between the Cowboy and Giants. Gaudelli says it will also be available for use for the November 8th Cowboys/Eagles matchup at AT&T Stadium and for two December games at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. The production team has also added to more ultra slow-mo cameras and an improved version of Sky Cam, which tracks the action from a cable above the field.

Producers are still in the process of evaluating the “Next Gen Stats” package to see if it will be part of their game broadcasts. The system, which is available on Microsoft’s NFL app, tracks things like how fast a player runs from an embedded device worn inside players’ shoulder pads.

As for the franchises making SNF appearances, America’s Team is once again well represented, with the Cowboys scheduled to play three times along with the Seahawks, Packers, Broncos, Patriots and Steelers. In week three, SNF will broadcast a Lions game from Ford Field for the first time.

Two teams winless under the bright lights of Sunday Night will try to get off the snide this year. The Chiefs (0-6) play November 22 at San Diego. The Bengals will look to end their 0-9 primetime record at San Francisco on December 20.

Meanwhile, Sunday Night Football enters its 10th season looking to extend that winning streak of its own. One that has bested every TV opponent since 2011 and isn’t showing any sign of letting up.

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