I haven't been paying as much attention lately as to what E* is doing to each channel. If this channel is a true MPEG4 channel, then that likely degraded the PQ, for Starz HD continues to have problems with intense colors and fast motion and it is a MPEG4 channel.
I had expected E* to go all out to make this a top notch presentation, given their national advertising campaign around having NFL Network in HD. I was quite surprised that the PQ was a couple of notches down from the standard ESPN Monday Night game. Motion artifacting was significantly worse than ESPN.
I should note that when watching portions of two NFL games last weekend via OTA, that I saw a fair amount of motion artifacts. Nothing approaching where the NFL Net was last night, but they were present.
I've had the chance to watch full-rez, 19.2 mb/s HD football a few times at A/V shows. It is phenomenal. If the real deal is like a perfectly prepared filet mignon, last night's show was more like getting the sirloin tips at Ponderosa. It is still steak and decent to eat, but not nearly as satisfying.