Thanksgiving Football Feast

Our initial plan for Thanksgiving Week was to keynote the NFL stretch drive with a complete overview of the remaining playoff contenders. But your humble scribe is a bit under the weather and the kind of research needed to do the job right, from reviewing stats to the film grades at Pro Football Focus isn’t possible. So we’re going to kick that into next week.

And you know what? That actually seems to make more sense anyway. By next week, the calendar will be into December, the college football regular season will be complete (save the conference championship games) and our NFL stretch drive keynote can pair nicely with college football to set the stage for the great Winter Carnival of American sports, with the postseasons of both sports, sprinkled with a little college basketball, NBA and NHL.

We hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving weekend. For your convenience, here’s a short list of the key national football games on each day. It truly is a feast!

THANKSGIVING DAY

Green Bay – Detroit (1 PM ET, Fox)
Kansas City – Dallas (4:30 PM ET, CBS)
Cincinnati – Baltimore (8:20 PM ET, NBC)

Showdown in the NFC North. Patrick Mahomes fighting for survival. Joe Burrow coming back at night. Can you ask for more?

There’s also a notable college game, with Navy – Memphis (7:30 PM ET, ESPN) and the Middies fighting to win the American Conference, something that likely puts them in the playoffs.

BLACK FRIDAY

NFL Showcase
Chicago – Philadelphia (3 PM ET, Amazon Prime)
College Tripleheader
Ole Miss – Mississippi State (Noon ET, ABC)
Georgia – Georgia Tech (3:30 PM ET, ABC)
Texas A&M – Texas (7:30 PM ET, ABC)

Who would have thought Bears-Eagles would have the kind of playoff implications it does?

COLLEGE FOOTBALL SATURDAY

Ohio State – Michigan (Noon, Fox)
Oregon – Washington (3:30 PM ET, CBS)
LSU – Oklahoma (3:30 PM ET, ABC)
Virginia Tech – Virginia (7 PM ET, ESPN)
Alabama – Auburn (7:30 PM ET, ABC)
SMU – Cal (8 PM ET, ESPN2)

The last time Ohio State lost a football game was against Michigan last year. Gus and Joel from Fox are in Ann Arbor for this year’s battle. Oregon and Oklahoma are teams that are currently in the playoff, but not comfortably. Virginia and SMU both control their destiny to reach the ACC Championship Game and play for a postseason ticket. And Alabama-Auburn? Probably not much of a game, but Herbstreit and Fowler will be there for ABC.

NFL SUNDAY

Houston – Indianapolis (1 PM ET, CBS)
Buffalo – Pittsburgh (4:25 PM ET, CBS)
Denver – Washington (8:20 PM ET, NBC)

We don’t all get a choice for that 1 PM window if a local team is playing, but Texans-Colts is the best game as the AFC South race heats up. And Bills-Steelers has turned into a monster battle in the wild-card picture.

MONDAY NIGHT DESSERT

NY Giants – New England (8:15 PM ET, ESPN)

Drake Maye, Mike Vrabel and those improbable Patriots look to hold their place at the top of the AFC bracket.

And if the football isn’t enough for you? We have plenty of college basketball. This space published our holiday overview a few days ago, including a listing of key games that will take place over this weekend and all the way to Christmas.

See you next week!