Channel 4 may have declared a November sweeps victory in promos that ran Sunday during the Buffalo Bills agonizing overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. And the CBS affiliate did win all news time periods except at 6 a.m.

But NBC affiliate Channel 2 can be as encouraged by the overall results as many Bills fans are about how competitive and exciting the team has become in the last three weeks.

Besides the victory by “Daybreak” at Channel 2 over Channel 4‘s “Wake Up” at 6 a.m., Channel 2 saw significant gains in its second-place showings at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Additionally, Channel 2‘s 11 a.m., noon and its 10 p.m. news on Channel 49 saw large percentage gains.

I’m a numbers guy, which tended to annoy my former newspaper editors.

But a reader needs some figures to put the tightening of the news race in perspective.

Channel 4 wins 3.6-3.0 at 5 a.m. over Channel 2. Channel 7 is third in all time slots. It had a 1.7 at 5 a.m., up 44 percent from a year ago. It was one of only two news time slots in which the ABC affiliate improved.

At 6. a.m, Channel 2′s “Daybreak” holds a healthy lead over Channel 4′s “Wake Up,” 6.5.-5.4. Channel 7;s new team of Patrick Taney, Ginger Geoffery and Mike Randall is at 2.8, slightly down from the 2.9 a year ago.

At 11 a.m., John Beard’s Channel 2 newscast averaged a 3.2, up 33 percent from the 2.4 a year ago.

At noon, Channel 4 won over Channel 7, 8.5-4.7, with both newscasts getting more viewers than they had a year ago.

At 5 p.m., Channel 4‘s lead remains comfortable at 9.5-8.1. But Channel 2 saw a 31 percentage increase from a year ago. Channel 4 rose 14 percent and Channel 7 (3.7) fell 26 percent.

At 6 p.m., Channel 4‘s lead slipped to less than a point, 9.5-8.6. Channel 2 gained 16 percent to Channel 4‘s 7 percent. Channel 7 (5.4) slipped 21 percent.

At 10 p.m., Channel 4′s newscast on WNLO-TV won with a 4.9 to a 2.1 for Channel 2‘s newscast on WNYO. However, Channel 2 had to be encouraged by a 40 percent gain from a year ago from its low numbers. Channel 2 rose 7 percent.

At 11 p.m., Channel 4 dominated with a 9.5 to a 7.2 for Channel 2 and a 5.0 for Channel 7. However, Channel 2 was up 22 percent from a year ago when Jay Leno was the lead-in, while Channel 4 slipped 3 percent despite the strong lead-ins it gets from CBS programs. Channel 7 slipped 21 percent.

If you’re still with me after all these numbers, here’s the bottom line: Channel 4 still is No.1 as its promos suggest and it gained viewers in all newscasts except at 11. But Channel 2 actually has more reasons to be thankful and hopeful.

I’ll have more thoughts about what this all means later in the week.

pergament@msn.com