NFL Thanksgiving Day slate recap

Watching or playing football is a common activity to do on Thanksgiving. Most TVs will have a game playing during the day. The tradition started with college football in 1876 with Yale and Princeton playing against each other. Professional football games became a regular event in 1934 when the Detroit Lions started playing on the holiday. Now, the Lions and the Dallas Cowboys play every Thanksgiving, with the Cowboys starting that tradition in 1966.  

This Thanksgiving was another year with great football games. The morning game was the Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit Lions followed by the afternoon game Cowboys vs. Chiefs. The final Thanksgiving game was the Cincinnati Bengals vs. the Baltimore Ravens.

Each game was exciting to watch. The Packers and Lions was a fourth-down battle with each team going for it on multiple fourth downs instead of punting or attempting a field goal. The Bengals and the Ravens ended in a surprising win by the Bengals. Quarterback Joe Burrow for the Bengals had missed nine weeks due to a toe injury, but he was able to come back strong and take the win. The most exciting Thanksgiving game was the Cowboys and the Chiefs; it was an exciting back-and-forth game with impressive performances from both quarterbacks that ended in a close 21-28 victory for Dallas.

One thing that made this game so exciting is that now the Cowboys have officially beaten the two teams that performed in the last Super Bowl in a row. They beat the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21, Nov 23.

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott threw 320 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb finished with 112 yards, one touchdown and seven catches and wide receiver George Pickens finished with 88 yards. Dallas out-rushed Kansas City 137 to 119. They were also able to get three sacks on Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and forced them to punt the ball five times.

Even though the Cowboys took the win, the Chiefs also played an impressive game. Mahomes threw 261 yards and four touchdowns without a turnover. Wide receiver Rashee Rice finished with 92 yards and two touchdowns and tight end Travis Kelce finished with 45 yards and one touchdown.

In the first quarter, the game started out with an early interception thrown by Prescott. The Chiefs only took two plays to get a touchdown caught by Rice. By the end of the first, The Chiefs led 14-7 with another touchdown caught by Kelce and a touchdown from the Cowboys caught by Lamb.

The second quarter opened with a Dallas field goal. During Kansas City’s first drive of the quarter, Mahomes was sacked and the drive ended with a punt. The Cowboys got the ball back and were able to get a 43-yard rushing touchdown made by running back Malik Davis. The quarter ended with Mahomes fumbling the ball, but the Chiefs recovered it. They couldn’t get any points out of it and had to punt with less than a minute on the clock. The half ended in a Cowboys 17-14 lead.

The third quarter was uneventful with both teams stopping each other and ending in a Cowboy’s field goal bringing their lead to 20-14. Kansas City had to punt twice, and Dallas had to punt once. Prescott did throw a 13-yard pass to tight end Jake Ferguson, but it was called back after the player was unable to get both feet on the ground making it an incomplete pass.

The fourth quarter makes up for the uneventful third starting out with a Kansas City touchdown caught by Rice bringing them up to 21-20. That lead didn’t last for long; one the next drive, Prescott made a complete pass to Pickens who made an impressive hurdle over a Chiefs defender and ran for 39 years. From that run, Dallas was able to make a touchdown caught by running back Javonte Williams and made a successful two-point conversion caught by Pickens. After the touchdown the Chiefs were forced to punt and then Dallas made a field goal after Pickens fumbled the ball, but it was recovered by wide receiver KaVontae Turpin bringing their lead to 31. On the last Chiefs drive, Mahomes was sacked but they were able to end the game with a Chiefs touchdown caught by wide receiver Hollywood Brown, but they were unable to get any more points, ending the game 28-31.

The Packers vs Lions had both teams going for it on fourth downs, the Lions went for it five times, only converting once on the final touchdown drive. One of the conversion attempts involved a fake punt that wasn’t completed. Lions quarterback Jared Goff finished with 256 yards and two touchdowns, but he also had three fumbles. One of those fumbles ended in a fumble recovery that Packer’s safety Jonathon Ownes ran in for a 27-yard touchdown. Packers quarterback Jordan Love played an impressive game and was able to throw for 234 yards and four touchdowns.

First quarter opened with one Lions touchdown caught by tight end Sam LaPorta and three Green Bay touchdowns, two caught by wide receiver Jayden Reed and tight end Tucker Kraft and one due to a fumble recovery. The ending score was 20-6 with the Packers in the lead. The second quarter ended 23-6 with a Packers field goal. Third quarter opened with a Lions touchdown run by running back David Montgomery and a successful two-point conversion. It ended with a Packers touch down caught by wide receiver Christian Watson and a failed two-point conversion. The game then ended with a Lions touchdown pass caught by wide receiver Josh Reynolds bringing the final score to 29-22 and finished with a Packers win.

The Bengals vs Ravens was the first game that Burrow would play after a nine-week absence due to a toe injury. Burrow had an impressive first game back, throwing for 261 yards and two touchdowns. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson threw for 246 yards, but he also threw for one interception. Jackson didn’t throw for any points; all the points were made by rushing touchdowns.

The first quarter of the game started with a Bengals field goal. The quarter then ended with a Ravens touchdown run in by running back Derrick Henry. The second quarter was full of Bengals points with three field goals bringing the points by the end of the first half to 12-7 with the Bengals in the lead. The third quarter opened with a Cincinnati touchdown caught by tight end Tanner Hudson. The Ravens responded with another touchdown rushed by running back Keaton Mitchell. Finally, with 15 seconds left, wide receiver Andrei Losivas caught a touchdown pass by Burrow. In the final quarter, the Bengals scored two field goals, bringing the final score 32-14 with an impressive Cincinnati win.

                The Thanksgiving games are always fun to watch. This year wasn’t any different. The three games were unpredictable, exciting, and high scoring. The NFL game planners always do an impressive job at planning these games and I trust that next year’s will be just as fun.

Week 14 predictions:

Thursday Game: Dallas Cowboys at Detroit Lions: Dallas Cowboys

Sunday Games: Tennessee Titans at Cleveland Browns: Cleveland Browns

Seattle Seahawks at Atlanta Falcons: Seattle Seahawks

Indianapolis Colts at Jacksonville Jaguars: Indianapolis Colts

Washington Commanders at Minnesota Vikings: Washington Commanders

Cincinnati Bengals at Buffalo Bills: Buffalo Bills

New Orleans Saints at Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens: Baltimore Ravens

Miami Dolphins at New York Jets: Miami Dolphins

Denver Broncos at Las Vegas Raiders: Denver Broncos

Los Angeles Rams at Arizona Cardinals: Los Angeles Rams

Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers: Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans at Kansas City Chiefs: Kansas City Chiefs

Monday Game: Philadelphia Eagles at Los Angeles Chargers: Philadelphia Eagles.