One of the best holidays is quickly approaching, Thanksgiving. It’s the perfect time to be thankful for all the great things in life like friends, family, shelter, and anything else there is to be thankful for. Spending time with the people you love and having an excuse to stuff your face with an unruly amount of food is the perfect type of holiday for anyone. For a beautiful cherry on top, from 12:30 until roughly 11, six teams will be entertaining the masses with some Thanksgiving Day football. Great atmospheres, attitudes, and games leave every fan happy for the entire day. Now, let’s jump into this year’s Thanksgiving Day matchups.

12:30 PM: Detroit Lions vs. Buffalo Bills 

After the airing of Hard Knocks, the Detroit Lions arguably turned their public image into being one of America’s teams, at least more than the Dallas Cowboys. The Lions, a franchise ridden by constant suffering, looked into this season with high aspirations, including an expectation that Motor City Dan Campbell could finally bring success to the franchise. While they have had a rough start to the year with a record of 3-6, the Lions have put together their first

win streak in two years after just scraping by the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. On the other hand, the Buffalo Bills have been on fire. Coming into the season as Super Bowl favorites, the Bills have lived up to those expectations, especially under the incredible play of perennial MVP candidate Josh Allen, who may finally capture an MVP award this season. The Bills have one of the best quarterbacks, wide receivers, and defenses in the league, and seemingly view the Lions as a gimmie game. 

The Detroit Lions have a long history of playing on Thanksgiving. The tradition started all the way back in 1917, a game Detroit lost 7-0. All time, the Detroit Lions are 37-42-2 on Thanksgiving, which isn’t a half-bad record. The Lions historically play pretty well on Thanksgiving and seemingly, for the past two weeks, the Lions have been playing better. Whether they have truly hit a stride is left to be seen. The Bills have a much shorter history of Thanksgiving football. The Bills have a record of 4 wins and 4 losses (two of which actually being to the Lions) and one tie. Given the Bills and Lions have only played twice, once in 1976 and once in 1994, and the Lions have won both times, Lions fans aren’t overreaching in being optimistic about this game. The Lions handily won both games against the Bills, and look to do the same this year. 

In a sit down with fellow cub Jack Ring ‘23, a Lions fan, he stated the Bills “don’t need to do a lot” to win this game. When asked who he wanted to see a big game out of he stated, “Jeff Okudah, he’s gotta be a stud.” His final score prediction, “24-10 Bills.”

4:30 PM: New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys

The New York Giants have burst onto the scene this year with a record of 7-2, the third-best record in the NFC. The Cowboys, a member of the same division as the Giants, have the fourth-best record in the NFC at 6-3. The Giants have a great offense and the Cowboys have a great defense, so this game is destined to be interesting. Daniel Jones has had questionable mobility his entire career, as he only has three games over double-digit rushing yards this season. The Cowboys, with Micah Parsons and Demarcus Lawrence, have wreaked havoc upon every quarterback they have faced. Jones is going to have to escape the pocket a bunch this game on passing downs. Even when Jones gets a pass off, he’ll be throwing on some of the better cornerbacks in the league. This could single-handedly lead to the downfall of the Giants in this game. On the other hand, however, Saquon Barkley has been one of the best rushers in the league. While it will be tough to run on a defense like the Cowboys, Saquon is the guy who could accomplish that task. 

The Cowboys’ offense has been a bit inconsistent all year. Prescott has been essentially trading an interception for every touchdown he throws. He gets a lot of yards and he does throw several touchdown passes, but he also turns the ball over a lot. Tony Pollard has also been inconsistent. He started the year hot, slowed down, and now he’s kicking back into overdrive, as he has rushed for over 100 yards and has gotten into the endzone the last two games. In one of

those games Pollard rushed for 131 yards with three touchdowns on top of that, and that’s just rushing. If the Cowboys’ offense and defense can keep playing how they have been, they can definitely walk away with a win. Even after a tough overtime loss to the Packers, the Cowboys can surely bounce back and win their Thanksgiving game. That, however, is not to the discredit of the Giants, who have been incredible this season. 

Overall, the game is a toss-up. Either team can win and it just depends on who shows up to play. The only guarantee is that this will be a fun game to watch, and will be the perfect game to set up a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. 

8:20 PM: New England Patriots vs. Minnesota Vikings 

Dinner is likely concluded for many or fastly approaching. Better hurry up, as the Minnesota Vikings, an 8-1 team tied for the best record in the league, are about to put a smackdown on Belichick’s Patriots. The Vikings share the best record in the league, though many believed the Vikings were frauds. This was until they won a thriller against the Bills, which went down as one of the most exciting finishes to a football game in recent history. The Vikings have Dalvin Cook, who has already rushed for 700 yards and six touchdowns this year, Justin Jefferson, who has some of the best hands in the league at only 23 years old and has already notched a 1,000-yard season nine games into the season, and a solid defense that only allowed 16 points against the Miami Dolphins’ star-studded offense. The Vikings are most definitely favorites to walk away with a win in this nighttime Thanksgiving matchup.

The Patriots have had an interesting season, to say the least. The Patriots are currently 5-4, which is a decent record. However, their inconsistent play and slow start to the season has really come back to bite them. The Patriots opened the season 1-3, but a dominant win over the Lions led by backup quarterback Bailey Zappe started to turn their season around. Since then, the Patriots have gotten big wins over the Jets and Colts and look to get a win at home against the Jets before Thanksgiving to sweep the season series. The Patriots can really thank Rhammondre Stevenson for much of their offensive production, as Stevenson has had an incredible season. 

As far as anyone can tell, this game should be great. The Vikings are obviously an amazing team, but the Patriots have been on a bit of a roll as well. More than likely the Vikings should run away with this game, but nobody ever knows in the NFL. That, my friends, is the glory of Thanksgiving football. Great energy, great atmosphere, great food, and great football to watch with the people you are thankful for. Let’s hope the Vikings and Patriots put on a show to put a cap on a great Thanksgiving. 

So, I hope you all remember the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Be thankful for all the blessings in your life, and for all the incredible opportunities you have been bestowed with in your life. Thanksgiving is the day to remember how thankful and lucky you are to have the things in life you have. Whether it is a great education, great friends, great family, or whatever else you are specifically thankful for. Albeit, you might also be thankful for football. So, enjoy some incredible Thanksgiving football, you deserve it.