Matt Mathias

Sports Editor

Mcm5909@psu.edu

 Every Thanksgiving, families from all over come together to have a meal and be grateful for one another. Tradition drives what the menu for the day will be, with turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie having a place on the table. However, some may argue that NFL Football that is played throughout the day is just as traditional as the meal itself. Many families, including my own, have made a habit out of watching the games unfold throughout the day as we enjoy one another’s company as well as some great food. With three games between six teams scheduled to play on Thanksgiving, football fans all around the United States were ready to feast on the action.

Every year, fans can always expect to see a certain few teams playing on Thanksgiving day. According to ESPN’s Todd Archer and Eric Woodyard, the Detroit Lions, one of the NFL’s oldest franchises, have played a home game on Thanksgiving every year since 1934. This doesn’t include, however, years in which the games were paused due to World War II from 1939 to 1944. A few decades later, the Dallas Cowboys were given a home game as well during the 1960s. Every year since there have been these two teams included in the festivities on the day as fans from both franchises have associated football with the holiday for most of their lives.

The tradition began for Detroit thanks to their owner at the time, G.A. Richards, who scheduled the first matchup between the Lions and the Chicago Bears. This also happened to be the same year that Richards purchased the team, then known as the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans football team. He proceeded to move the team to Detroit, naming it the Detroit Lions. In the first ever matchup between Detroit and Chicago on Thanksgiving, the Bears, who were back-to-back champions at the time, defeated the Lions by a score of 19-16 and set the stage for what was to come for future holidays.

The Cowboys had their first matchup against the Cleveland Browns on Thanksgiving of 1966 where they were victorious by a score of 26-14. The general manager of the Cowboys at the time, Tex Schram, was dead set on having his team play on Thanksgiving to give their team more national publicity. The NFL seemed unsure of this, yet somehow 80,259 fans attended the event. This solidified Dallas’s place on Thanksgiving Day. The only times they have not played on the holiday since were in 1975 and 1977.

Players seem to love playing on the holiday. Cowboys running back, Ezekiel Elliot, has played on thanksgiving often since joining the team in 2016. ESPN got a quote of him describing his experiences playing on Thanksgiving as he says, “My favorite thing about playing on Thanksgiving is we’re the only team playing at that time, all eyes on us. Everyone is watching. We’ve got the stage so we just have to go out and handle our business.”

Teams playing on the day do not get to spend the holiday with their families, which is one of the only real drawbacks to having a game on the holiday. For teams that do play, typically they postpone their celebrations until the following day. However, this doesn’t stop the die-hard fans from tailgating with all of the classic Thanksgiving fixings right outside of the venue. Not only that, but during the game, each team offers food usually served during the Thanksgiving meal to people who are at the game.

Thanksgiving football has always been watched by many as they celebrate with their families. This year, the matchups were the Detroit Lions versus the Chicago Bears, The Dallas Cowboys versus the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Buffalo Bills versus the New Orleans Saints. The Bears defeated the Lions by a score of 16-14, the Raiders won against the Cowboys in a thrilling overtime game by a score of 36-33, and the Bills dominated the Saints winning 31-6.

Thanksgiving Day football has given fans its fair share of exciting moments. This year, and in future years, the NFL will continue to have its place in tradition at the Thanksgiving Day dinner table right next to the mashed potatoes and gravy.