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NFL on Thanksgiving Day

Since its inception in 1920, the National Football League (NFL) has played games on Thanksgiving Day, patterned upon the historic playing of college football games on and around the holiday. The NFL's Thanksgiving Day games have traditionally included one game hosted by the Detroit Lions since 1934, and one game hosted by the Dallas Cowboys since 1966 (with two exceptions in 1975 and 1977). Since 2006, a third prime time game has also been played on Thanksgiving. Unlike the afternoon games, this game has no fixed teams.

"Thanksgiving Classic" redirects here. For the Canadian Football League games, see Thanksgiving Day Classic. For the black college football rivalry, see Turkey Day Classic.

In 2022, the NFL branded the Thanksgiving Day games as the John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration, to honor head coach and broadcaster John Madden, who had died in December 2021.[1]

1920: An states that the Chicago Tigers and Decatur Staleys challenged each other to a Thanksgiving duel, in Chicago, in the league's inaugural season, with the loser being relegated out of the league at the end of the season, purportedly explaining why the Tigers were the only NFL team to fold after the 1920 season (no other team would fold until 1921). The claims of it being a duel are unsubstantiated; nevertheless, the Tigers, after a 27–0 win over the non-league Thorn Tornadoes the next week, never played football again. The Staleys would move to Chicago during the next season, later renaming themselves the Bears.[17]

urban legend

1921: In a matchup of two of the league's best teams, the lost to the Buffalo All-Americans at home. The Staleys demanded a rematch, with Buffalo agreeing to a December match only on the terms of it being considered an off-the-record exhibition game. That later match, which Chicago won, ended up counting despite the All-Americans' insistence, controversially handing Chicago the championship.

Chicago Staleys

1929: scored 40 points—an NFL record that still stands, and the entirety of the Chicago Cardinals' scoring that day (including the extra points)—in a rout over their crosstown rivals the Chicago Bears, who scored only 6 points.

Ernie Nevers

1952: The were forced to move their lone remaining home game to the Rubber Bowl in Akron, Ohio as the undercard to a high school football contest. Their opponent for that game, the Chicago Bears, underestimated the then-winless Texans and sent their second string team to the game; the Texans scored a 27–23 upset over the Bears for their only win of their existence.

Dallas Texans

1962: The handed the 10–0 Green Bay Packers their lone defeat of the season, 26–14. The game was dubbed the "Thanksgiving Day Massacre" due to the dominant performance by the Lions defense, who sacked Bart Starr 11 times.[18][19]

Detroit Lions

1964–65: The 1964 and 1965 AFL contests featured the and the San Diego Chargers, the two teams that would eventually meet in those years' American Football League Championship Games. Buffalo won the 1964 Thanksgiving game 27–24 and the 1965 game ended in a 20–20 tie. Both games were played at Balboa Stadium in San Diego.

Buffalo Bills

1969: In a blinding snowstorm at , the Minnesota Vikings blanked the Lions 27–0, featuring an interception by Jim Marshall, who lateraled to Alan Page on the return, resulting in a touchdown.

Tiger Stadium

1974: backup quarterback Clint Longley took over for an injured Roger Staubach with the team down 16–3 and rallied them to an improbable 24–23 victory over the Washington Redskins on two deep passes.

Dallas Cowboys

1976: The offense put forth one of the best and the worst performances in Thanksgiving history. O. J. Simpson set the NFL record for most rushing yards in a single game, with 273. However, Bills backup quarterback Gary Marangi—playing in relief of Joe Ferguson and himself battling shoulder injuries—completed only 4 of 21 pass attempts, for 29 yards passing, no touchdowns (one was called back on a penalty) and a rating of 19.7. The Detroit Lions defeated the Bills 27–14.[20] In a 2022 interview, Simpson, Marangi and Joe DeLamielleure expressed embarrassment over the game (part of a rebuilding season in which Bills coach Lou Saban quit midseason, Jim Ringo went winless as Saban's replacement and their star receivers had been traded away), noting that Simpson had broken a record he already held at the time (which Simpson compared to "kissing your sister") and that he had more pride in other games the Bills won with Simpson rushing for over 200 yards, despite not setting records.[21]

Buffalo Bills

1980: With the and Chicago Bears tied 17–17 at the end of regulation, the game went to overtime, the first Thanksgiving game to do so (overtime was not added to the NFL regular season until 1974), and the first overtime game at the Silverdome. Bears running back Dave Williams returned the fifth-quarter opening kickoff 95 yards for a game-winning touchdown, ending the shortest overtime period in NFL history at the time (13 seconds).

Detroit Lions

1986: The and the Green Bay Packers had the second-highest scoring game in Thanksgiving history (the highest-scoring game came in 1951). It was the best day of receiver Walter Stanley's career; Stanley netted 207 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns, including an 83-yard punt return to win the game for Green Bay, 44–40. Stanley had an otherwise undistinguished career in the NFL.

Detroit Lions

1989: In what was known as the "", the Philadelphia Eagles crushed the Dallas Cowboys by a score of 27–0. Allegations surfaced that the Eagles had placed a bounty on the Cowboys kicker, thus becoming the first of a string of three bitterly contested games between the two teams, the other two being Bounty Bowl II and the Porkchop Bowl a year later.

Bounty Bowl

1993: In one of the more famous Thanksgiving Day games in recent history, the led the Miami Dolphins 14–13 with just seconds remaining in a rare, sleet-filled Texas Stadium. Miami's Pete Stoyanovich attempted a game winning 40-yard field goal that was blocked by the Cowboys' Jimmie Jones. Dick Enberg (who was calling the game for NBC) proclaimed "The Cowboys will win." Indeed, since the kick landed beyond the line of scrimmage, once the ball stopped moving the play would be declared dead and Dallas would gain possession. However, the ball landed and began spinning on its tip, leading Cowboys lineman Leon Lett to try to gain possession. Lett slipped, fell, and knocked the ball forward. By rule, the ball was live and the Dolphins fell on it at the two yard line. With the recovery, Stoyanovich got a second chance to win the game and he hit the much shorter field goal. The Dolphins won 16–14.[22]

Dallas Cowboys

1994: was injured and third-string quarterback (and future Cowboys head coach) Jason Garrett was forced to start for Dallas against the Packers. The Cowboys won a 42–31 shoot-out against Brett Favre.

Troy Aikman

1998: In another controversial Thanksgiving Day game, the and the Detroit Lions went to overtime tied 16–16. Pittsburgh's Jerome Bettis called the coin toss in the air, but head referee Phil Luckett declared Detroit the winner of the toss after Bettis reportedly said "He...tails." Luckett concluded Bettis' call was "heads", but Bettis insisted he had said "tails." The Lions elected to receive, and they went on to kick a field goal on the first possession, winning 19–16. As a result of the fiasco, officials are now required to confirm a captain's call before tossing the coin, and at least two officials must be involved in each toss. A later rule change now prevents teams from automatically winning a game by scoring a field goal on the first possession. The day also saw a memorable performance by the Minnesota Vikings in a 46–36 win over the Dallas Cowboys as Vikings rookie wide receiver Randy Moss caught three touchdowns, all of over 50 yards.

Pittsburgh Steelers

2008: The 10–1 routed the 0–11 Lions by a score of 47–10, one of the most lopsided results in history on Thanksgiving. The Lions would go on to finish the season 0–16, clinching the 33rd[23] winless season in NFL history, the ninth since 1930, and the first under the 16-game schedule.

Tennessee Titans

2011: The trio of games was lauded as one of the better Thanksgiving Day slates of games in NFL history as the Green Bay Packers defeated the Detroit Lions 27–15, the Dallas Cowboys edged the Miami Dolphins 20–19 and the Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers 16–6.[25] The night game pitted head coaches and Harbaugh brothers John of the Ravens and Jim of the 49ers against each other – a preview of the next year's Super Bowl XLVII.

[24]

2012: The prime time contest became infamous for the "", an incident in which New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez ran headfirst into the buttocks of Brandon Moore, one of his own offensive linemen. He subsequently fumbled the ball; and it was recovered by the New England Patriots, who immediately returned it for a touchdown, part of 35 second quarter points by the Patriots in a one-sided 49–19 victory. In an earlier game, one of the NFL's most infamous rule changes came when former Lions head coach Jim Schwartz challenged a play in which Houston Texans running back Justin Forsett's knee clearly touched the ground before sprinting for an 81-yard touchdown. Referee Walt Coleman stated that, by rule, scoring plays are automatically reviewed and the play was not challengeable by a coach. Because of the improperly attempted challenge, the review was cancelled and Coleman assessed a 15-yard kickoff penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. The NFL then passed a new rule that stated that if a coach attempted to challenge a play that is automatically reviewed, the review would continue. It was called the 'Jim Schwartz rule'. Houston won the game 34–31 in overtime.

Butt fumble

2013: During the and Baltimore Ravens matchup, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin became the subject of controversy when video replay showed him interfering with a kick return as he was standing just off the field along the visiting team's sideline while Baltimore's Jacoby Jones broke free on a kickoff return for a potential game-breaking touchdown.[26] Tomlin, with his back to the approaching play, appeared to glance over his shoulder then place his foot briefly onto the field as he jumped out of the way, causing Jones to veer inside where he was tackled. Several Ravens players claimed Tomlin had intentionally interfered with Jones; if officials had agreed, a touchdown could have been awarded to the Ravens based on the palpably unfair act. However, no penalty was called for interference or for standing in the white border area reserved for the officiating crew. The Ravens beat the Steelers 22–20. Following a league investigation, on December 4, 2013, the NFL announced that they had fined Tomlin $100,000 for his actions on the field.[27]

Pittsburgh Steelers

2022: In a game nicknamed "23 Seconds" or "21 Seconds"[29] in homage to the 13 Seconds playoff game the year before, the Buffalo Bills defeated the Detroit Lions 28–25 on an end-of-game drive that elapsed 21 of the last 23 seconds off the game clock, culminating in the winning field goal by Tyler Bass with two seconds remaining.[30]

[28]

Broadcasting[edit]

DuMont was the first network to televise Thanksgiving games in 1953; CBS took over in 1956, and in 1965, the first color television broadcast of an NFL game was the Thanksgiving match between the Lions and the Baltimore Colts.


Starting in 1970, the Detroit "early" game and the Dallas "late" game initially rotated annually as intra-conference (NFC at NFC) and inter-conference (AFC at NFC) games. This was to satisfy the then-television contract balance between the network holding the rights to the "AFC package" and televised inter-conference games in which the visiting team is from the AFC (NBC from 1970 to 1997, and CBS since 1998) and the network with the "NFC package" (CBS from 1970 to 1993, and Fox since 1994).


In 2006, the third game in primetime originally aired on the NFL Network. In 2012, NBC took over broadcasting the primetime game, and ever since all three broadcast networks with Sunday NFL rights carry one Thanksgiving game apiece. The first two games continue to be split between CBS and Fox, with CBS getting the 12:30 p.m. (EST) Detroit "early" game, and Fox getting the 4:30 p.m. Dallas "late" game in even-numbered years, and Fox getting the "early" game and CBS the "late" game in odd-numbered years.


In 2014, a system known as "cross-flex" was introduced, in which the two networks bound by conference restrictions, CBS and Fox, could carry games from the other conference as part of their Sunday afternoon package,[37][38] including the potential for CBS to broadcast an NFC vs. NFC game on Thanksgiving.[39] From that year through 2016, CBS carried all-NFC contests every year on Thanksgiving, and in 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2023, no AFC teams played in any of the Thanksgiving games. To date, the NFL has never assigned an AFC road game to Fox on Thanksgiving.


Westwood One most recently held national radio broadcast rights to all three games, with Compass Media Networks sharing rights to the Cowboys contest. (Under league rules, only radio stations that carry at least 12 Cowboys games in a season are allowed to carry the Compass broadcast.) The participating teams also air the games on their local flagship stations and regional radio networks.


The Cowboys' Thanksgiving game has regularly been the most watched NFL regular season telecast each year, with the Lions' Thanksgiving game usually in the top five.

All three of the generally recognized iterations of the American Football League that played during this era (, AFL II in 1936 and AFL III in 1940) played Thanksgiving games, which are also listed as indicated.

AFL I in 1926

Non-NFL team games between league teams and non league teams counted in the 1920 standings. The All-Tonawanda Lumberjacks later joined the league as the Tonawanda Kardex, albeit only for one game.

Thanksgiving fell on the final Thursday in November until 1938 and was held on two conflicting days from 1939 to 1941.

2007: Of the members of the Cowboys defense, , DeMarcus Ware, Terence Newman and Greg Ellis were particularly noted.

Chris Canty

2017: No formal CBS award was given. and Keenan Allen (both of the Chargers) were interviewed during post-game coverage.

Philip Rivers

2018: No formal CBS award was given. (Bears) was interviewed during post-game coverage.

Chase Daniel

2020: The CBS award was sent to 's home instead of being handed out after the game.

Deshaun Watson

2020: No NBC prime time game was held due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

American football on Thanksgiving

NFL Christmas games

2003 NFL Record and Fact Book ( 0-7611-3148-5) (for game results through 2002)

ISBN

2003, 2004 and 2005 game schedules (for game results 2003 to 2005)

Detroit Lions

2003, 2004 and 2005 game schedules (for game results 2003 to 2005)

Dallas Cowboys

NFL.com Thanksgiving

from the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Thanksgiving Day Game Results

American Football League Thanksgiving game boxscores