Football fans got to see 3 games on Thanksgiving. They started out bad, and got better as the day turned into night. In the early game, the Detroit Lions gave the visiting Green Bay Packers a thorough 40-10 beating. The only thing that kept this game close for a while, was the 3 first half Detroit turnovers (2 fumbles and an interception). One of those fumbles was turned into the Packers’ only touchdown, on a one-yard Morgan Burnett touchdown run after the ball was knocked out of Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford’s hand. This gave the Packers their only lead on the game, at 10-3 with 12:33 remaining in the first half.
After the Green Bay touchdown, it was all Lions for the rest of the game. They scored 2 touchdowns in the last 5 minutes of the 2nd quarter. The first touchdown was on a 5-yard pass from Stafford to Jeremy Ross, and the second was a 1-yard run by Reggie Bush. After missing a late field goal, Detroit took a 17-10 halftime lead to the locker room.
The Lions scored 3 touchdowns and a safety in the second half. The only chance the Packers even had to score, came after a 56-yard pass from quarterback Matt Flynn to James Jones. But a fumbled snap lost the ball and ended that drive. Detroit outgained Green Bay 561-126 in total yards, including 241 -24 yards rushing. The Lions’ defense had 7 sacks, including the safety by Ndamukong Suh. Losing this game was not too surprising for the Packers, who have gone 0-4-1 since the injury to starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but the severity of the domination was surprising. These Packers reminded me of their teams in the 1970’s and 1980’s, and up until quarterback Brett Favre arrived in 1992.
The second game of the day was the Oakland Raiders traveling to play the Dallas Cowboys. This was a much more competitive game throughout, with the game tied at 21 after 3 quarters, and the Cowboys prevailing by a score of 31-24. The Raiders opened the scoring with a 23-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Greg Jenkins. Later, Dallas running back DeMarco Murray scored on 2 short touchdown runs in the first half, sandwiched around 2 Rashard Jennings 1-yard touchdown runs for the Raiders. The first half ended with Oakland leading 21-14.
The only score of the 3rd quarter was Dallas’ Dez Bryant catching a 4-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tony Romo, which tied the game. But 40 seconds into the 4th quarter, Murray scored his 3rd touchdown of the day on a 7-yard run. The Cowboys added a field goal by Dan Bailey to take a 31-21 lead with 1:56 remaining in the game. That was enough to hold off the Raiders, who ended the scoring with a 45-yard field goal by Sebastian Janikowski with 35 seconds left.
In the final National Football League (NFL) game of the Thanksgiving holiday, the Baltimore Ravens pulled out a 22-20 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Ravens scored the first 13 points, but had to hold on at the end to defeat the Steelers in Baltimore. The Ravens took a 19-7 lead early in the 4th quarter, on a 45-yard field goal by Justin Tucker, his 4th of the game. Pittsburgh came back with a 5-yard Le’Veon Bell touchdown run, to cut the deficit to 19-14. After Tucker added a 5th field goal, the Steelers needed a touchdown and a 2-point conversion to tie the game. With 1:03 left in the game, they got the touchdown on a 1-yard pass from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to Jerricho Cotchery, but they missed the 2-point conversion. After failing to recover the ensuing onside kick, the Ravens escaped with a win.
The home teams went 3-0 on the day. The Lions and Cowboys, both with a 7-5 record, took a half-game lead in their divisions, the Lions in the National Football Conference (NFC) North, and the Cowboys in the NFC East. The Lions lead the Chicago Bears, and the Cowboys lead the Eagles, going into the weekend games. The Ravens are now in 2nd place in the American Football Conference (AFC) North, with a 6-6 record, 1 1/2 games behind the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Lions and Cowboys look like they need to win their respective divisions in the NFC to make the playoffs, because 3 teams are presently ahead of them for the 2 wild card spots. But in the AFC, the Ravens currently have the 2nd wild card spot, even though they are only 6-6. However, 4 teams go into this weekend with a chance to tie Baltimore’s 6-6 record.
The losing teams today, are all in bad shape to get to the postseason. The Packers are a game and a 1/2 behind Detroit in the NFC North, with only 4 games left. The Raiders’ only chance to make the playoffs is as a wild card, but they are 2 games behind now. The Steelers are only 1 game behind the Ravens, for the last wild card spot in the AFC, but they are also a half game behind 4 other teams. So the winners today would all make the playoffs, if they started now, and none of the losers today would enter the postseason. The playoff race is starting to get a little clearer, now that we’ve started week 13 of the regular season in the NFL.
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Sports With Frank Thomas
