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 or around the November 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 game has also been played in prime time on Thanksgiving night. Unlike the two afternoon games, this game has no fixed teams.

In 2001, the NFL began branding the games as the Thanksgiving Classic. In 2022, the league changed the branding to the John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration in honor of former head coach and broadcaster John Madden, who died in December 2021.

History

Before the NFL

The concept of American football games being played on Thanksgiving Day dates back to 1876, shortly after the game had been invented, as it was a day that most people had off from work. In that year, the college football teams at Yale and Princeton began an annual tradition of playing each other on Thanksgiving Day. The University of Michigan also made it a tradition to play annual Thanksgiving games, holding 19 such games from 1885 to 1905. The Thanksgiving Day games between Michigan and the Chicago Maroons in the 1890s have been cited as "The Beginning of Thanksgiving Day Football." In some areas, most commonly in New England, high-school teams play on Thanksgiving, usually to wrap-up the regular-season.

By the time football had become a professional event, playing on Thanksgiving had already become an institution. Records of pro football being played on Thanksgiving date back to as early as the 1890s, with the first pro–am team, the Allegheny Athletic Association of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1902, the National Football League, a Major League Baseball-backed organization based entirely in Pennsylvania and unrelated to the current NFL, attempted to settle its championship over Thanksgiving weekend; after the game ended in a tie, eventually all three teams in the league claimed to have won the title.

Members of the Ohio League, during its early years, usually placed their marquee matchups on Thanksgiving Day. For instance, in 1905 and 1906 the Latrobe Athletic Association and Canton Bulldogs, considered at the time to be two of the best teams in professional football (along with the Massillon Tigers), played on Thanksgiving. A rigging scandal with the Tigers leading up to the 1906 game led to severe drops in attendance for the Bulldogs and ultimately led to their suspension of operations.

During the 1910s, the Ohio League stopped holding Thanksgiving games because many of its players coached high school teams and were unavailable. This was not the case in other regional circuits: in 1919, the New York Pro Football League featured a Thanksgiving matchup between the Buffalo Prospects and the Rochester Jeffersons. The game ended in a scoreless tie, leading to a rematch the next Sunday for the league championship.

The pioneer NFL and Thanksgiving Day games

Several other NFL teams played regularly on Thanksgiving in the first eighteen years of the league, including the Chicago Bears and Chicago Cardinals (1922–1933; the Bears played the Lions from 1934 to 1938 while the Cardinals switched to the Green Bay Packers for 1934 and 1935), Frankford Yellow Jackets, Pottsville Maroons, Buffalo All-Americans, Canton Bulldogs (even after the team moved to Cleveland they played the 1924 Thanksgiving game in Canton), and the New York Giants (1929–1938, who always played a crosstown rival).

The first owner of the Lions, George A. Richards, started the tradition of the Thanksgiving Day game as a gimmick to get people to go to Lions football games, and to continue a tradition begun by the city's previous NFL teams. What differentiated the Lions' efforts from other teams that played on the holiday was that Richards owned radio station WJR, a major affiliate of the NBC Blue Network (the forerunner to today's American Broadcasting Company); he was able to negotiate an agreement with NBC to carry his Thanksgiving games live across the network.

During the Franksgiving controversy in 1939 and 1940, the only two teams to play the game were the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles, as both teams were in the same state (Pennsylvania). (At the time, then-U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt wanted to move the holiday for economic reasons and many states were resistant to the move; half the states recognized the move and the other half did not. This complicated scheduling for Thanksgiving games. Incidentally, the two teams were also exploring the possibility of a merger at the time.) Because of the looming World War II and the resulting shorter seasons, the NFL did not schedule any Thanksgiving games in 1941, nor did it schedule any in the subsequent years until the war ended in 1945. When the Thanksgiving games resumed in 1945, only the Lions' annual home game would remain on the Thanksgiving holiday.

The All-America Football Conference and American Football League, both of which would later be absorbed into the NFL, also held Thanksgiving contests, although neither of those leagues had permanent hosts. Likewise, the AFL of 1926 also played two Thanksgiving games in its lone season of existence, while the AFL of 1936 hosted one in its first season, which featured the Cleveland Rams, a future NFL team, and the 1940–41 incarnation of the American Football League played two games in 1940 on the earlier "Franksgiving" date.

The late 20th century

In 1951, the Packers began a thirteen-season run as the perpetual opponent to the Lions each year through 1963.

In 1966, the Dallas Cowboys, who had been founded six years earlier, adopted the practice of hosting Thanksgiving games. It is widely rumored that the Cowboys sought a guarantee that they would regularly host Thanksgiving games as a condition of their very first one (since games on days other than Sunday were uncommon at the time and thus high attendance was not a certainty).

This is only partly true: Dallas had in fact decided on their own to host games on Thanksgiving; team president Tex Schramm was enticed by the publicity that would come with a permanent nationally televised contest and volunteered to be host when the NFL proposed the second Thanksgiving game. Schramm also anticipated a home field advantage in that the shorter week would favor the home team because the opponent would not only lose three days of practice but additional time traveling to Dallas that the Cowboys could use to prepare.

In 1975 and 1977, at the behest of then-Commissioner Pete Rozelle, the St. Louis Cardinals replaced Dallas as a host team (Dallas then hosted St. Louis in 1976). Although the Cardinals, at the time known as the "Cardiac Cards" due to their propensity for winning very close games, were a modest success at the time, they were nowhere near as popular nationwide as the Cowboys, who were regular Super Bowl contenders during this era. This, combined with St. Louis's consistently weak attendance, a series of ugly Cardinals losses in the three-game stretch, and opposition from the Kirkwood–Webster Groves Turkey Day Game (a local high school football contest) led to Dallas resuming regular hosting duties in 1978.

With their resumption as a regular NFL Thanksgiving Day venue, the Cowboys requested and received an agreement guaranteeing the Cowboys a spot on Thanksgiving Day indefinitely.

Since 1978, Thanksgiving games have been hosted in Detroit and Dallas every year, with Detroit in the early time slot and Dallas in the late afternoon slot. Because of television network commitments in place through the 2013 season, to make sure that both the AFC-carrying network (NBC from 1965 to 1997, and CBS since 1998) and the NFC-carrying network (CBS from 1956 to 1993, and Fox since 1994) got at least one game each, one of these games was between NFC opponents, and one featured AFC-NFC opponents. Thus, the AFC could showcase only one team on Thanksgiving, and the AFC team was always the visiting team.

The 21st century

Since 2006, a third NFL game on Thanksgiving has been played in prime time. It originally aired on the NFL Network as part of its ''Thursday Night Football'' package until 2011, when the game was moved to NBC's '' Sunday Night Football'' package under the NFL's current television deals. The night game has never had a dedicated host team or any conference tie-in, meaning the league can place any game into the time slot. Since NBC took over the prime time game in 2012, divisional matchups have been normally scheduled, with the exceptions being in 2016, 2021, 2022 and 2024. In 2014, a series of changes to the broadcast contracts freed CBS from its obligation to carry an AFC team, and by 2018, the last vestiges of conference ties to the Thanksgiving games were eliminated (although in practice games on Fox have remained all-NFC contests).

The originally scheduled 2020 primetime game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers was postponed to the following Wednesday, December 2, after multiple Ravens players and staff tested positive for COVID-19 in the days before the game. This thus marked the first time no primetime contest was held since 2005.

On November 11, 2022, the league announced that the Thanksgiving games would be branded as the "John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration", honoring the memory of head coach and broadcaster John Madden. Madden called 20 Thanksgiving games as the lead analyst for CBS Sports from 1981 to 1993 and Fox Sports from 1994 to 2001.

Landmarks

* 1920: An urban legend states that the Chicago Tigers and Decatur Staleys challenged each other to a Thanksgiving duel in the league's inaugural season, with the loser to be relegated out of the league. Although the story is apocryphal, the Tigers did fold after the 1920 campaign and the Staleys moved to Chicago early in the 1921 season, later renaming themselves the Bears.
* 1921: In a matchup of two of the league's best teams, the Chicago Staleys lost to the Buffalo All-Americans at home. The Staleys demanded a rematch, with Buffalo agreeing to a December reprise only as an off-the-record exhibition game. Chicago won the second game, which ended up counting despite the All-Americans' insistence, controversially handing Chicago the championship.
* 1925: A Thanksgiving NFL game was played in Detroit for the first time when the league's second Motor City team, the Detroit Panthers, hosted the Rock Island Independents. The visitors won, 6–3. Meanwhile in Chicago, collegiate superstar Red Grange debuted for the Bears in a game against their crosstown rivals, the Chicago Cardinals, in front of nearly 40,000 fans.
* 1928: A third Detroit NFL franchise, the Wolverines, hosted a Thanksgiving Day game during their one and only year of existence."Friedman's Wolverines Crush Dayton Triangles, 33 to 0: Great Passing Routs Ohioans,"
''Detroit Free Press,'' Nov. 30, 1928, p. 20. The team won a laugher, 33–0, over the Dayton Triangles at University of Detroit Stadium.
* 1929: The Chicago Cardinals' Ernie Nevers scored all 40 points — a record that still stands — in a 40–6 rout over their North Side foes, the Chicago Bears.
* 1934: The fourth Detroit NFL franchise, the Lions, began their Thanksgiving tradition with a game hosting the Chicago Bears. George S. Halas & Co. won 19–16 in front of 26,000 people.
* 1952: The expansion Dallas Texans were forced to move their lone remaining home game to the Rubber Bowl in Akron, Ohio due to a scheduling conflict. Their opponent, the Chicago Bears, underestimated the winless Texans and sent their second string team to the game. The resulting 27–23 upset proved to be Dallas' only victory of their existence.
* 1962: The Detroit Lions 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.
* 1966: The Dallas Cowboys joined the Lions as annual Thanksgiving Day hosts with a defeat of the visiting Cleveland Browns, 26–14.
* 1969: In a blinding snowstorm at Tiger Stadium, 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.
* 1974: The Dallas Cowboys lost their Hall of Fame QB Roger Staubach to an injury and fell behind Washington. Then the team's backup, an unknown and untested youngster named Clint Longley, led a furious 4th-quarter comeback that saw Dallas pull off a stunning 31-27 victory.
* 1976: The Buffalo Bills managed both best and worst offensive performances in the history of NFL Thanksgiving football when O. J. Simpson ran for 273 yards, an NFL record. Bills reserve quarterback Gary Marangi made history of another sort, completing only 4 of 21 pass attempts for 29 yards and a rating of just 19.7. The Lions won, 27–14.
* 1980: With the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears tied 17–17 in the new Pontiac Silverdome at the end of regulation, the first Thanksgiving overtime game was born. Speedy Bear Dave Williams returned the opening kickoff 95 yards in 13 seconds for a game-winning touchdown, setting a record for the shortest overtime period in NFL history.
* 1989: In what was known as the " Bounty Bowl", 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.
* 1993: Cowboy defensive lineman Leon Lett gained fifteen minutes of national infamy when in the final seconds he accidentally turned an apparently game-winning field goal block into a fumble by touching the spinning football and moving it forward. Given a second chance from point blank range, Miami Dolphins kicker Pete Stoyanovich knocked it through for a 16–14 win.
* 1998: Remembered in football lore as "The Coin Toss game". As the Pittsburgh Steelers and Detroit Lions went to overtime tied 16–16, Pittsburgh's Jerome Bettis called the coin flip by saying both heads and tails. Unfortunately, head referee Phil Luckett declared Detroit the winner of the toss on live TV. The Lions elected to receive and quickly drove down the field to kick a game-winning field goal on their first possession. Later that day in Dallas, Vikings WR Randy Moss would show a national audience why he was headed for 1st-team All Pro status as a rookie by catching 5 passes for 157 yards and 3 TDs in Minnesota's win.
* 2008: In one of the greatest mismatches of the Thanksgiving series, the 10–1 Tennessee Titans annihilated the 0–11 Lions, 47–10. Detroit would go on to become the 33rd winless team in NFL history and the first ever to lose 16 games.
* 2011: The trio of games was lauded as one of the better Thanksgiving Day slates in the series. In the nightcap head coaching brothers John Harbaugh of the Ravens and Jim Harbaugh of the 49ers matched wits in a preview of 2012's Super Bowl XLVII.
* 2012: In the infamous Butt Fumble game, New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez ran headfirst into the buttocks of his own offensive lineman, guard Brandon Moore. The New England Patriots returned the fumble for a touchdown and would go on to win 49–19 in blowout fashion.
* 2013: In a game against the Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin became the subject of controversy when video replay showed him apparently interfering with a kick return from Jacoby Jones and stopping a probable touchdown as he stood on the sideline. No penalty was called on Tomlin, but the Steelers would still go on to lose, 22–20. Tomlin was later fined $100,000 for his actions by the NFL.
* 2022: In the "23 Seconds Game", an homage to the 13 Seconds playoff game the year before, the Buffalo Bills defeated the Detroit Lions when with 23 seconds on the clock they ran a 21-second field goal drive. Tyler Bass hit a walk-off 28–25 game winner for the favored Bills.
* 2023: During a blowout 45–10 win over the Washington Commanders, Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland recorded his fifth interception returned for a touchdown on the season, breaking the NFL record.
* 2024: After trailing 23–7, the Bears came within three points of the Lions and were driving to tie the game or even pull off the upset. However, Chicago rookie quarterback Caleb Williams and head coach Matt Eberflus mismanaged the clock in the last 34 seconds: with one time-out remaining, the clock running, and just outside field goal range on third down, the Bears opted to attempt one additional play with the hopes of improving field position, calling a time-out, and making the game-tying field goal attempt, but setting into formation and executing the third-down play ended up taking too much time and ran out the clock, preserving Detroit's first Thanksgiving win since 2016. Meanwhile, it was the Bears' sixth consecutive loss, prompting management to make the franchise's first-ever release of a head coach midseason as it parted ways with Matt Eberflus the following day.

Throwback uniforms

Since teams playing on Thanksgiving have worn throwback uniforms on numerous occasions. In 2002, it extended to nearly all games of the weekend, and in some cases also involved classic field logos at the stadiums.

From 2001 to 2003, Dallas chose to represent the 1990s Cowboys dynasty by wearing the navy "Double-Star" jersey not seen since 1995. In , the team wore uniforms not seen since . In 2009, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the AFL, both Dallas and Oakland played in a "AFL Legacy Game." In 2013, the Cowboys intended to wear their 1960s throwbacks, but chose not to do so after the NFL adopted a new policy requiring players and teams to utilize only one helmet a season to address the league's new concussion protocol; rather than sport an incomplete throwback look, the Cowboys instead wore their standard blue jerseys at home for the first time since 1963. In 2015, the Cowboys resurrected their 1994 white "Double-Star" jerseys only this time wore them with white pants as part of the league's Color Rush, a trial run of specially designed, monochromatic jerseys to be worn during Thursday games. In 2022, after the NFL lifted the one-helmet rule, the Cowboys resumed wearing the throwback navy "Double-Star" jerseys on Thanksgiving.

In 2001–2004, and again in 2008, 2010, 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2023 the Detroit Lions have worn throwback uniforms based on their very early years. For 2019 and 2022, Detroit wore its silver Color Rush uniforms.

Charity campaigns and halftime concerts

In 1997, the Salvation Army began the tradition of kicking off its Christmas Kettle campaign during halftime of the Dallas game. The campaign kickoff event includes a halftime show by a major recording artist, with halftime concerts also eventually being added to the Detroit game (which traditionally supports the United Way's Live United campaign). The evening contest also features a halftime concert, which the NFL promotes co-equally with the others, but this concert is usually not televised; its current broadcaster, NBC, uses that time slot to air its own pre-recorded human-interest profiles and typically only airs a few short highlights, whereas CBS and Fox air the Detroit and Dallas halftime shows in full. The NFL has treated the Thanksgiving halftime slots as a prime exposure opportunity second only to the Super Bowl halftime show.

Home team controversy

It has remained a tradition for the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions to host the afternoon games dating several decades. Other teams eventually expressed interest in hosting Thanksgiving Day games. Lamar Hunt, the former owner of the Chiefs (who had hosted Thanksgiving Day games from 1967 to 1969 as an AFL team prior to the merger), lobbied heavily in favor of his team hosting a game on the holiday. When the NFL adopted a third, prime time game, the Chiefs were selected as the first team to host such a contest, but the team was not made a permanent host, and Hunt's death shortly after the 2006 contest ended the lobbying on behalf of the team.

The host issue came to a head in 2008, focusing particularly on the winless Lions. Going into the game, the Lions had lost their last four Thanksgiving Day games, and opinions amongst the media had suggested removing the Lions and replacing them with a more attractive matchup. The team also required an extension to prevent a local television blackout. The Lions were routed by the Tennessee Titans 47–10, en route to the team's 0–16 season. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed that the Lions would stay on Thanksgiving Day for the 2009 season, but kept the issue open to revisit in the future.

Conversely, the Dallas Cowboys, who typically represent a larger television draw, have had far fewer public calls to be replaced on Thanksgiving Day. One issue that has been debated is a perceived unfair advantage of playing at home on Thanksgiving Day. The advantage is given in the form of an extra day of practice for the home team while the road team has to travel to the game site. This is true for most Thursday games, but with the night games, the visitor can travel to the game site after practice on Wednesday and hold the final walkthrough the following morning.

With the introduction of the prime time game, which effectively allows all teams in the league an opportunity to play on Thanksgiving Day, along with the introduction of year-long ''Thursday Night Football'' ensuring all teams have one Thursday game during the regular season (thus negating any on-field advantages or disadvantages to being selected for Thanksgiving Day), the calls for the Lions and the Cowboys to be removed have diminished.

Broadcasting

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

Starting in , 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 , the third game in primetime originally aired on the NFL Network. In , NBC took over broadcasting the primetime game, and ever since all three broadcast networks with Sunday NFL rights carry one Thanksgiving Day game apiece. The first two games continue to be split between CBS and Fox, with CBS getting the Detroit "early" game, and Fox getting 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, including the potential for CBS to broadcast an NFC vs. NFC game on Thanksgiving Day. From that year through 2016, CBS carried all-NFC contests every year on Thanksgiving Day, and in 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2023, no AFC teams played in any of the Thanksgiving Day games. To date, the NFL has never assigned an AFC road game to Fox on Thanksgiving Day.

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

Game results

(Winning teams are denoted in bold; tie games are ''italicized''.)

1920–1940

*All three of the generally recognized iterations of the American Football League that played during this era ( AFL I in 1926, AFL II in 1936 and AFL III in 1940) played Thanksgiving Day games, which are also listed as indicated.
*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 Day fell on the final Thursday in November until 1938 and was held on two conflicting days from 1939 to 1941.
*The Detroit Lions started playing their traditional series in 1934.

1945–1959

*No Thanksgiving Day games were held from 1941 to 1944 due to World War II.
*Thanksgiving Day games were played on the fourth Thursday in November from 1945 onward.
*The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) also played Thanksgiving Day games from 1946 to 1949.

1960–1969

*The American Football League (AFL) also played Thanksgiving Day games during this decade.
*The Dallas Cowboys started playing their traditional series in 1966.

1970–2005

*From to , two afternoon games were played every Thanksgiving Day. They were held at Detroit and Dallas, with the Lions hosting the "early" game (12:30 p.m. EST) and the Cowboys holding the "late" game (initially at 4:00 p.m. EST, then moved to 4:15 p.m. EST in 1998). Detroit always hosted the "early" game because a 12:30 p.m. EST kick-off at Dallas would be 11:30 a.m. local time ( CST), and the NFL avoided starting games before noon locally. Detroit's 12:30 p.m. "early" game kickoff was also thirty minutes earlier than the typical afternoon start time (1:00 p.m.). This helped reduce the chance of the two games overlapping.
*The two games 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).
*CBS and NBC initially started their Thanksgiving Day pregame coverage thirty minutes before kickoff of their respective games, similar to their thirty-minute pregame coverage on Sunday afternoons. After Fox acquired NFL rights in 1994, and debuted the hour-long ''Fox NFL Sunday'' pregame show, they also started their hour-long pregame coverage at 11:30 a.m. when televising the Detroit "early" game, but kept a thirty-minute pregame show when televising the Dallas "late" game. When CBS reacquired NFL rights in 1998, they still started their '' The NFL Today'' pregame coverage at 12:00 p.m. when televising the Detroit "early" game due to the fact that their morning parade coverage ran until noon.
*Dallas was replaced by the St. Louis Cardinals as a host team in and ; Dallas and St. Louis faced each other at Texas Stadium in 1976. Because of the Missouri Turkey Day Game, the long-established Kirkwood– Webster Groves high school football game that takes place on Thanksgiving in St. Louis, weak fan support in St. Louis, and general national preference of the Cowboys over the historically weaker Cardinals, the Cardinals' hosting of the Thanksgiving Day game was not popular. Dallas returned to hosting the game in 1978 and has hosted since. Likewise, the Rams held its state football championship games on Thanksgiving Day weekend at The Dome at America's Center from 1996 to 2015.
*After the NFL division realignment in 2002, no team from the AFC North could play a Thanksgiving Day game against the traditional hosts. This was because under the current rotation, the Cowboys and the Lions each play AFC North teams in years that Fox is scheduled to broadcast its Thanksgiving Day game, requiring an NFC opponent. The last game to feature a team currently in the AFC North was the Lions' matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1998. AFC North teams could play in the prime time game, as the Bengals did in 2010.

2006–present

*Since , three contests have been scheduled for Thanksgiving Day. In addition to the traditional Detroit and Dallas home afternoon games, a third game is now played in primetime and televised by NFL Network (2006–) or NBC (since ). The third game's start times have generally been the same as other primetime games, with pregame coverage beginning at 8:00 p.m. EST and kickoff at 8:20 p.m. EST. The primetime game is hosted by a different team (other than the Lions and Cowboys) each season.
*The Kansas City Chiefs hosted the Denver Broncos in the first "Thanksgiving Tripleheader" primetime game in 2006. This game also marked the first time that more than two games were played on Thanksgiving (as well as the first all-AFC holiday matchup) since the AFL–NFL merger in .
*In , the Dallas game's kickoff time was moved from 4:15 p.m. EST to 4:30 p.m. EST, with the networks also moving their pregame coverage for that game to 4:00 p.m. EST. This shift provided further protection from possible game overlap with the Detroit game's 12:30 p.m. EST kickoff, and allows additional time if the league elects to have a special halftime performance.
*The season was the first in which CBS no longer had to air an inter-conference (AFC at NFC) Thanksgiving game. Instead, all three games featured NFC vs. NFC opponents for the first time. There were also all-NFC matchups in , and . , and each featured five NFC teams and only one participating AFC team.
* From to , and to , the primetime game was held between division rivals. The originally scheduled primetime divisional rivalry game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers was postponed to Sunday, November 29 and eventually again to Wednesday, December 2 after multiple Ravens players and staff tested positive for COVID-19 in the days before the game. This marked the first time no Thanksgiving Day prime time contest was held since 2005.
*In , the Detroit game's kickoff time was moved from 12:30 p.m. EST to 1:00 p.m. EST so all three Thanksgiving games resemble the typical Sunday 1:00, 4:25, and 8:15 p.m. EST kickoff times.

Game standings

''Of current NFL franchises. This includes American Football League (AFL) games; however, it does not include All-America Football Conference (AAFC) games.''

Notable appearance droughts

The last currently active franchise to have never played on Thanksgiving through is the Jacksonville Jaguars, who joined the league in .

An idiosyncrasy in the NFL's current scheduling formula, which has been in effect in its basic form since 2002, effectively prevented teams from the AFC North from playing at the Lions or Cowboys on Thanksgiving. The formula had the AFC North playing at Dallas or at Detroit in years when other divisions were slated to fill the AFC slot on Thanksgiving. These teams, under the television contracts in place at the time, could only play in the third (night) game. With changes in the scheduling practices in 2014 ("cross-flexing"), the division is no longer barred from participating in one of the afternoon games. Even with cross-flexing available, an AFC North team has yet to play at Detroit or Dallas on Thanksgiving, and all of the AFC North's appearances have thus far been in the night game.

The Los Angeles Rams have the longest active appearance drought of any team, with their last appearance coming in 1975.

Since 2010, several appearance droughts have ended. New Orleans, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Houston, and Carolina all played their first Thanksgiving games during this time frame. San Francisco likewise played their first Thanksgiving game since 1972 in 2011. The Los Angeles Chargers, who last played on the holiday in 1969 (while the team was still an AFL franchise in San Diego), appeared for the first time as an NFL member in 2017.

Thanksgiving Day records of defunct teams

:''League teams only, since 1920.''

*All-America Football Conference team.

Most frequent match-ups among active teams

Game MVPs

Since 1989, informal and sometimes lighthearted Most outstanding player/MVP awards have been issued by the networks broadcasting the respective games. Running back Emmitt Smith holds the record for most Thanksgiving MVPs with five (1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2002), followed by Tony Romo with four (2006, 2007, 2009, 2013). Among players not from Detroit or Dallas, Josh Allen, Drew Brees and Brett Favre each hold three. Voting on the respective awards is typically done informally by the announcing crew and/or producers, and criteria are loose. Noteworthy statistical accomplishments weigh heavily, and "group" awards are not uncommon. The announcement of the winner(s), and the presentation of the award is normally done immediately following the game, during post-game network coverage.

Turkey Leg Award (CBS & Fox)

In , John Madden of CBS awarded the first "Turkey Leg Award", for the game's most valuable player. Pursuant to its name, it was an actual cooked turkey leg, and players typically took a celebratory bite out of the leg for the cameras during post-game interviews. Reggie White of the Eagles was the first recipient. The gesture was seen mostly as an amusing gimmick tied to the holiday and relating to Madden's famous multi-legged turkeys and turduckens. Since then, however, the award has gained notoriety. Madden brought the award to Fox in , and it continued through 2001.

Because of the loose and informal nature of the award, at times it has been awarded to multiple players. On one occasion (1994) it was given to players from both teams.

Later Fox awards

When John Madden left Fox after 2001, Fox introduced a new award starting in 2002, named the ''Galloping Gobbler''. It was represented by a small silver figurine of a cartoonish turkey wearing a football helmet striking a Heisman-like pose. Much like Cleatus and Digger, the original ''Galloping Gobbler'' trophy reflected Fox's irreverent mascots, and went through several iterations. Unimpressed by its tackiness, Emmitt Smith famously threw the 2002 award into a trash can.

In 2007, the kitschy statuette was replaced with a bronze-colored statue of a nondescript turkey holding a football. In 2011, the trophies were discarded altogether and replaced by a commemorative plaque. Unlike the aforementioned "Turkey Leg Award", the ''Galloping Gobbler'' was normally awarded to only one player annually, however in 2016, co-winners were honored.

For 2017, the ''Galloping Gobbler'' was permanently retired, and replaced with the "Game Ball", a stylish, ornate football-shaped trophy, reminiscent of the tradition where game-used balls are typically awarded to players of the game. For 2019 and 2020 (coinciding with Fox's new partnership with ''WWE SmackDown''), the "Game Ball" was replaced by a WWE Championship Belt. The "Game Ball" returned in 2021.

All-Iron Award (CBS)

When the NFL returned to CBS in , they introduced their own award, the "All-Iron Award", which is, suitably enough, a small silver iron, a reference to Phil Simms' All-Iron team for toughness. The All-Iron winner also received a skillet of blackberry cobbler made by Simms' mother.

Through 2006, the trophy was only awarded to one player annually. Occasionally, it was issued as a "group award". In 2008, Simms stated it was "too close to call" and named four players to the trophy; he then gave the award to several people every year until 2013, after which he reverted to a single MVP in 2014.

Simms was removed from the broadcast booth for the 2017 season in favor of Tony Romo, who did not carry on the tradition. Instead, the "Chevrolet Player of the Game" award was extended to CBS' Thanksgiving Day game. As in CBS' regular Sunday afternoon NFL coverage as well as Fox's regular NFL coverage, Chevrolet will donate money in the player's name to the United Way if the game is played in Detroit, or the Salvation Army if the Thanksgiving Day game is played in Dallas.

For the 2019 season, CBS revived the Turkey Leg Award, awarding it to Josh Allen.

Prime time games (NFLN & NBC)

During the time when NFL Network held the broadcast rights the prime time game, from 2007 to 2011 they gave out the "Pudding Pie Award" for MVPs. The award was an actual pie. In 2009, NFL Network gave Brandon Marshall a pumpkin pie rather than the chocolate pudding pie of the previous two years.

NBC, which carried Thanksgiving afternoon games through 1997, did not issue an MVP award during that time. NBC began broadcasting the Thanksgiving prime time game in 2012, at which point the MVP award was added. From 2012 to 2015, the NBC award was referred to as the "Madden Thanksgiving Player-of-the-Game", honoring John Madden (who announced NBC games from 2006 to 2008). The award then became the "Sunday Night Football on Thanksgiving Night Player of the Game" in 2016. It is typically awarded to multiple players on the winning team. In the first few years, the award specifically went to players on both offense and defense, but in recent years, there have been no quotas for each phase. The winning players are presented with ceremonial game balls and, as a gesture to Madden, a cooked turkey leg. The 2021 award also featured a turkey leg statuette in addition to legs prepared and seasoned by local chef (and former NBC star) Emeril Lagasse.

Madden Player of the Game/Thanksgiving MVP (2022–present)

As part of the new "John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration" branding in 2022, the league announced that each network will now select a "Madden Player of the Game", with the NFL Foundation donating $10,000 in each winner's name to a youth or high school football program of their choice. Turkey legs continue to be awarded to the players of the game in homage to Madden, except for 2023 when Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love was informed that there was none available.

In 2024, the NFL rebranded the award to the "Madden Thanksgiving MVP" and unveiled a new trophy to be awarded to the MVPs from each of the three games, consisting of a granite pylon with gold-colored engraving. The trophy includes an undated quote from John Madden: "There's no place I'd rather be today on Thanksgiving than right here, right now, at a football game." (The quote is a paraphrase of a famous quote originated by Marv Levy: "Where else would you rather be, than right here, right now?")

Complete list

*2007: Of the members of the Cowboys defense, Chris Canty, DeMarcus Ware, Terence Newman and Greg Ellis were particularly noted.
*2017: No formal CBS award was given. Philip Rivers and Keenan Allen (both of the Chargers) were interviewed during post-game coverage.
*2018: No formal CBS award was given. Chase Daniel (Bears) was interviewed during post-game coverage.
*2020: The CBS award was sent to Deshaun Watson's home instead of being handed out after the game.
*2020: No NBC prime time game was held due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

See also

* American football on Thanksgiving
* NFL on Christmas Day

Notes

References

Bibliography

*''2003 NFL Record and Fact Book'' () (for game results through 2002)
*Detroit Lionsbr>20032004
an
2005
game schedules (for game results 2003 to 2005)
*Dallas Cowboysbr>20032004
an
2005
game schedules (for game results 2003 to 2005)

External links

NFL.com ThanksgivingThanksgiving Day Game Results
from the Pro Football Hall of Fame
American Football League Thanksgiving game boxscores

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