NFL on Thanksgiving Day: Difference between revisions
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===AFL and AFC Thanksgiving games=== |
===AFL and AFC Thanksgiving games=== |
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The Detroit and Dallas arrangements were made in spite of the fact that the [[American Football League]] played Thanksgiving Day games in each of its ten years of existence, 1960 - 1969, actually beginning the tradition six years before the NFL Dallas Cowboys. From 1960 through 1966, one AFL game was played every Thanksgiving. In 1967, 1968 and 1969, in the buffer period before the [[AFL-NFL merger]], each Turkey Day had two AFL games |
The Detroit and Dallas arrangements were made in spite of the fact that the [[American Football League]] played Thanksgiving Day games in each of its ten years of existence, 1960 - 1969, actually beginning the tradition six years before the NFL Dallas Cowboys. From 1960 through 1966, one AFL game was played every Thanksgiving. In 1967, 1968 and 1969, in the buffer period before the [[AFL-NFL merger]], each Turkey Day had two AFL games. The team with the best record in AFL Thanksgiving Day games was the lowly [[New York Jets|New York Titans]], who played in the first three, and were 3 - 0. The [[Oakland Raiders]] were second best, with a 3 - 1 record. The addition of the NFL Network game on Thanksgiving has AFC fans hoping that their conference will now have equal exposure, perhaps with an NFC-NFC, AFC-NFC, ''and'' an AFC-AFC game each Thanksgiving; in fact, the [[Kansas City Chiefs]] (after the Thanksgiving 2006 game) attempted to regain "regular" status with the night game. |
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The Chiefs' claim as Thanksgiving "regulars," however, was dubious, as they had only played an AFL Thanksgiving game once-- in the inaugural AFL season as the Dallas Texans-- prior to when the [[AFL-NFL merger]] was finalized in 1967, when the AFL decided to put mostly West Coast and Midwestern teams on Thanksgiving. The [[Buffalo Bills]], on the other hand, played five games on Thanksgiving in the AFL's existence, between 1962 and 1968, more than any other team, although all of those were away games (Buffalo's predecessor [[Buffalo (NFL)|1920s NFL franchise]] also played thrice on Thanksgiving in its first 4 years). The Titans, Chiefs/Texans, Raiders, and Broncos each played four Thanksgiving games. The Chargers played on Thanksgiving thrice in the AFL's time span and the Oilers twice (both of those in the last two years of the league's existence). |
The Chiefs' claim as Thanksgiving "regulars," however, was dubious, as they had only played an AFL Thanksgiving game once-- in the inaugural AFL season as the Dallas Texans-- prior to when the [[AFL-NFL merger]] was finalized in 1967, when the AFL decided to put mostly West Coast and Midwestern teams on Thanksgiving. The [[Buffalo Bills]], on the other hand, played five games on Thanksgiving in the AFL's existence, between 1962 and 1968, more than any other team, although all of those were away games (Buffalo's predecessor [[Buffalo (NFL)|1920s NFL franchise]] also played thrice on Thanksgiving in its first 4 years). The Titans, Chiefs/Texans, Raiders, and Broncos each played four Thanksgiving games. The Chargers played on Thanksgiving thrice in the AFL's time span and the Oilers twice (both of those in the last two years of the league's existence). |
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Revision as of 15:06, 4 January 2008
- The Canadian Football League also holds a Thanksgiving Day Classic on Canadian Thanksgiving.
The National Football League's Thanksgiving Classic is a series of games played during the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. Three games are played during this time; the two "day games" are hosted each year at the home stadiums of the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys, and beginning in 2006 season, the NFL Network also hosts one Thanksgiving game per season between two different teams chosen by the league.
The Lions have hosted a game each year since 1934 (excluding the years 1941-1944 due to World War II), and the Cowboys have hosted a game each year since 1966 (excluding 1975 and 1977 when the St. Louis Cardinals hosted a game instead).
The first owner of the Lions, G.A. Richards, started the tradition of the Thanksgiving Day game as a gimmick to get people to go to Lions football games.[1] 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).
The New York Giants played regularly on Thanksgiving between 1929 and 1938 as the away team; the Green Bay Packers played every year as the Lions' opponent between 1951 and 1963.
The two "traditional" Thanksgiving Day pro football games were in Dallas and Detroit. Because of TV network commitments, to make sure that both the AFC-carrying network and the NFC-carrying network 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.
AFL and AFC Thanksgiving games
The Detroit and Dallas arrangements were made in spite of the fact that the American Football League played Thanksgiving Day games in each of its ten years of existence, 1960 - 1969, actually beginning the tradition six years before the NFL Dallas Cowboys. From 1960 through 1966, one AFL game was played every Thanksgiving. In 1967, 1968 and 1969, in the buffer period before the AFL-NFL merger, each Turkey Day had two AFL games. The team with the best record in AFL Thanksgiving Day games was the lowly New York Titans, who played in the first three, and were 3 - 0. The Oakland Raiders were second best, with a 3 - 1 record. The addition of the NFL Network game on Thanksgiving has AFC fans hoping that their conference will now have equal exposure, perhaps with an NFC-NFC, AFC-NFC, and an AFC-AFC game each Thanksgiving; in fact, the Kansas City Chiefs (after the Thanksgiving 2006 game) attempted to regain "regular" status with the night game.
The Chiefs' claim as Thanksgiving "regulars," however, was dubious, as they had only played an AFL Thanksgiving game once-- in the inaugural AFL season as the Dallas Texans-- prior to when the AFL-NFL merger was finalized in 1967, when the AFL decided to put mostly West Coast and Midwestern teams on Thanksgiving. The Buffalo Bills, on the other hand, played five games on Thanksgiving in the AFL's existence, between 1962 and 1968, more than any other team, although all of those were away games (Buffalo's predecessor 1920s NFL franchise also played thrice on Thanksgiving in its first 4 years). The Titans, Chiefs/Texans, Raiders, and Broncos each played four Thanksgiving games. The Chargers played on Thanksgiving thrice in the AFL's time span and the Oilers twice (both of those in the last two years of the league's existence).
Neither the Chiefs' proposal nor the AFL/AFC fans' hopes, however, were to be, as in 2007, the league pitted the Indianapolis Colts against yet another NFC team, the Atlanta Falcons, for the Thanksgiving night game.
Throwback uniforms
From 2001 to 2004, teams playing on Thanksgiving wore throwback uniforms to celebrate the teams' heritage, similar to those adopted in the 1994 season when the league celebrated its 75th anniversary. As the traditional home teams Detroit and Dallas were, naturally, the most notable. Detroit always wore uniforms based on those of their early years. Therefore, they had to remove all decals from their helmets to reflect the absence of helmet logos in that earlier era. From 2001-2003, Dallas chose to represent the 1990s Cowboys dynasty who won 3 Super Bowls in a 4 year span by wearing the navy "Double-Star" jersey not seen since the 1995 season. In 2004, the team went even more throwback by wearing uniforms not seen since the team's inception in 1960 but the Cowboys have not performed well in the jerseys until Tony Romo won with the uniforms in 2006. The Cowboys abandoned the jersey for the 2007 Thanksgiving game in favor of their usual home white jersey.
Since the 2005 season, teams have been permitted to wear their throwback jersey on any two weeks of the year, not necessarily Thanksgiving.
While not usually playing on Thanksgiving, the San Diego Chargers also wore their throwback white helmets and "powder blue" jerseys on Thanksgiving weekend during this time. The popularity of the throwback jerseys led to the team returning to white helmets in 2007 as well as several other teams (beginning with the Buffalo Bills in 2005 and subsequently with many other teams in 2007) adopting throwback uniforms as their third jersey.
Memorable games
Some memorable Thanksgiving Day games include the 1974 Cowboys-Redskins game in which unknown Cowboys backup quarterback Clint Longley took over for an injured Roger Staubach with the team down 16-3 and rallied them to an improbable victory on two deep passes. A similar experience occurred in 1994 when third-string Cowboys quarterback Jason Garrett was forced to start against the Green Bay Packers and led the Cowboys to a 42-31 win. Furthering this a decade later, Drew Henson started for the Cowboys in 2004 against the Bears; after showing no performance in the first half, he was benched in favor of Vinny Testaverde, who led the Cowboys to a 21-7 win.
Some of the games have been infamous for other reasons. In 1993, the Cowboys led the Dolphins 14-13 with just seconds remaining in a snow-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 of NBC proclaimed "The Cowboys will win." However, Cowboys defensive end Leon Lett chased the ball and touched it, giving the Dolphins a chance to regain possession, and then kick a much shorter field goal to take an improbable 16-14 victory. In 1998, the Steelers and Lions went to overtime. Pittsburgh's Jerome Bettis called the coin toss in the air, but confusion surrounded the call. The officials misheard Pittsburgh's call and awarded Detroit the ball. (The story originally claimed that Bettis had called one side of the coin and the referee heard something else, but in 2007, Steelers coach Bill Cowher, working as an analyst on The NFL Today, clarified, stating that Bettis himself had made an unclear declaration of "head-tails" and it was not necessarily the referee's fault.) As a result of the fiasco, team captains are now required to call the coin toss before the coin is tossed.
The 1989 Bounty Bowl between the Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, a 27-0 drubbing of the home team, led to allegations 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 later that year and the Porkchop Bowl the next season.
In 1980, Chicago Bear David Williams returned the opening kickoff in overtime for a touchdown against Detroit, the only time that has happened on a Thanksgiving game.
Game results
(Winning teams are denoted by boldface type; tie games are italicized.)
1920-1959
* 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.
- ^ "The Origins of the Thanksgiving Day Tradition". Detroit Lions. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- ^ Played at Canton, Ohio
- ^ Played at Hartford, Connecticut
- ^ Played at Akron, Ohio
1960-1969
- Note: The rival American Football League (AFL) also played Thanksgiving Day games during this decade, and the Dallas Cowboys started playing their series in 1966.
1970-Present
- Note: From 1970 to 2005, three NFC teams played each Thanksgiving, as opposed to one AFC team. In 2006, Kansas City hosted a prime time Thanksgiving game. The game marked a new "Thanksgiving Tripleheader" tradition. The Denver/Kansas City game marked the first time more than two games were played on Thanksgiving (and the first all-AFC holiday matchup) since the AFL-NFL Merger in 1970.
- The two afternoon games are held at Detroit (12:30 p.m. EST) and Dallas (4:15 p.m. EST), respectively. Detroit always hosts the first game because a 12:30 p.m. EST kick-off at Dallas would be 11:30 a.m. local time (CST), and the NFL avoids starting games before noon locally. The two games rotate annually as intra-conference (NFC vs. NFC) and inter-conference (NFC vs. AFC) games. This is largely due to the format of the television contract with CBS and FOX. Since both Detroit and Dallas are NFC teams, in order for CBS to televise one of the games, one game must be against an AFC opponent, as inter-conference AFC away games are televised on CBS. For fairness between both networks and markets, the two games rotate annually between the two networks.
- Since 2006, three contests have been played on Thanksgiving. In addition to the traditional Detroit and Dallas home afternoon games, a third game is now played at night and televised by NFL Network. This game was played in Kansas City in 2006, and will be played in Atlanta in 2007; current plans call for the various NFL teams (other than the Lions and Cowboys) to take turns hosting the night game on a rotation basis.
- Dallas was replaced by the St. Louis Cardinals as a host team in 1975 and 1977.
Thanksgiving Day standings
Of current NFL franchises. This includes American Football League games.
| Team | Wins | Losses | Ties | Win Pct. | Other names appeared under |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota Vikings | 5 | 1 | .833 | ||
| Miami Dolphins | 5 | 1 | .833 | ||
| St. Louis Rams | 3 | 1 | .750 | Cleveland Rams (1937-45), Los Angeles Rams (1946-94) | |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 3 | 1 | .750 | ||
| Indianapolis Colts | 2 | 0 | 1 | .667 | Baltimore Colts (1953-83) |
| Dallas Cowboys | 26 | 14 | 1 | .634 | |
| Oakland Raiders | 3 | 2 | .600 | ||
| New York Giants | 7 | 3 | 3 | .538 | |
| Detroit Lions | 35 | 32 | 1 | .530 | |
| Chicago Bears | 16 | 13 | 2 | .516 | Decatur Staleys (1920), Chicago Staleys (1921) |
| Atlanta Falcons | 1 | 1 | .500 | ||
| Kansas City Chiefs | 5 | 5 | .500 | Dallas Texans (1960-62) | |
| New York Jets | 3 | 3 | .500 | New York Titans (1960-62) | |
| San Diego Chargers | 2 | 1 | 1 | .500 | |
| San Francisco 49ers | 2 | 1 | 1 | .500 | |
| Seattle Seahawks | 1 | 1 | .500 | ||
| Tennessee Titans | 4 | 2 | .500 | Houston Oilers (1960-96), Tennessee Oilers (1997-98) | |
| Green Bay Packers | 12 | 18 | 2 | .375 | |
| Buffalo Bills | 3 | 5 | 1 | .333 | |
| New England Patriots | 1 | 2 | .333 | ||
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 2 | 4 | .333 | ||
| Arizona Cardinals | 6 | 14 | 2 | .273 | Chicago Cardinals (1920-59), St. Louis Cardinals (1960-87), Phoenix Cardinals (1988-93) |
| Denver Broncos | 2 | 8 | .200 | ||
| Washington Redskins | 1 | 6 | .143 | ||
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 0 | 1 | .000 | ||
| Cleveland Browns | 0 | 2 | .000 |
The current active franchises that have never played on Thanksgiving through 2007 include:
- New Orleans Saints
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Carolina Panthers (1995 expansion team)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (1995 expansion team)
- Baltimore Ravens (began operations in 1996)
- Houston Texans (2002 expansion team)
Thanksgiving Day Records of Defunct Teams
| Team | Wins | Losses | Ties | Win Pct. | Other names appeared under |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frankford Yellow Jackets | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | Defunct (1931) | |
| Pottsville Maroons | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | Defunct (1928) | |
| Boston Yanks | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | Defunct (1948) | |
| Dallas Texans | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | Defunct (1952) | |
| Los Angeles Buccaneers | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | Defunct (1926) | |
| Oorang Indians | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | Defunct (1923) | |
| Rock Island Independents | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | Defunct (1925) | |
| All-Tonawanda Lumberjacks | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | Defunct (1921) | |
| Akron Pros | 3 | 1 | 1 | .600 | Defunct (1926) |
| Buffalo Bisons | 1 | 1 | 1 | .500 | Buffalo All-Americans (1920-23), Defunct (1929) |
| Cleveland Bulldogs | 1 | 1 | .500 | Defunct (1927) | |
| Dayton Triangles | 1 | 1 | .500 | Defunct (1929) | |
| Kansas City Cowboys | 1 | 1 | .500 | Kansas City Blues (1924), Defunct (1926) | |
| Milwaukee Badgers | 1 | 1 | .500 | Defunct (1926) | |
| Canton Bulldogs | 1 | 1 | 1 | .333 | Defunct (1926) |
| Brooklyn Lions | 0 | 1 | .000 | Defunct (1926) | |
| Chicago Tigers | 0 | 1 | .000 | Defunct (1920) | |
| Detroit Heralds | 0 | 1 | .000 | Defunct (1920) | |
| New York Yanks | 0 | 1 | .000 | Defunct (1950) | |
| Providence Steam Roller | 0 | 1 | .000 | Defunct (1931) | |
| Racine Legion | 0 | 1 | .000 | Defunct (1926) | |
| Toledo Maroons | 0 | 1 | .000 | Defunct (1923) | |
| Columbus Panhandles | 0 | 2 | .000 | Defunct (1926) | |
| Detroit Panthers | 0 | 2 | .000 | Defunct (1926) | |
| Hammond Pros | 0 | 2 | .000 | Defunct (1926) | |
| Rochester Jeffersons | 0 | 2 | .000 | Defunct (1925) |
Game MVPs
In 1989 (the year of the infamous Bounty Bowl), John Madden of CBS awarded the first "Turkey Leg Award," for the game's most valuable player. Reggie White of the Philadelphia Eagles was the first recipient. The gesture was seen mostly as a humorous gimmick relating to Madden's famous multi-legged turduckens served on Thanksgiving. Since then, however, the award has gained subtle notoriety, and currently, each year an MVP has been chosen for both the CBS and FOX games. Madden brought the award to FOX in 1994, but it was abandoned and replaced with the "Galloping Gobbler" -- a running silver turkey wearing a football helmet -- when Madden left for ABC in 2002. When CBS returned to the NFL in 1998, 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 receives a skillet of blackberry cobbler made by Simms' mother.[1]
Because of the informal nature of the award, the awards can be given to multiple players. John Madden has done this five times (all on Fox), to as many as four players (in fact, for Fox's first Thanksgiving broadcast in 1994, Madden actually issued the Turkey Leg Award to players on both teams, the only time this has ever happened). Since Madden left Fox, the network's "Galloping Gobbler" has only been awarded to one player. CBS had never issued the award to more than one player until 2007, when Phil Simms gave the All-Iron Award to a record five players on the Dallas Cowboys squad.
Neither NBC nor NFL Network have ever issued an MVP award for games they have aired.
| Year | MVP | Team | Opposing team | MVP | Team | Opposing team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NFC vs. Cowboys/Lions Turkey Leg Award 1989-2001 (CBS/FOX) Galloping Gobbler 2002-present (FOX) |
AFC vs. Cowboys/Lions All-Iron Award 1998-present (CBS) | |||||
| 1989 | Reggie White | Philadelphia Eagles | Dallas Cowboys | NBC did not issue a game MVP when it covered Thanksgiving contests. | ||
| 1990 | Troy Aikman | Dallas Cowboys | Washington Redskins | |||
| 1991 | Barry Sanders | Detroit Lions | Chicago Bears | |||
| 1992 | Emmitt Smith | Dallas Cowboys | New York Giants | |||
| 1993 | Richard Dent | Detroit Lions | Chicago Bears | |||
| 1994 | Emmitt Smith Jason Garrett |
Dallas Cowboys | ||||
| Sterling Sharpe Brett Favre |
Green Bay Packers | |||||
| 1995 | Herman Moore Brett Perriman Johnnie Morton |
Detroit Lions | Minnesota Vikings | |||
| 1996 | Emmitt Smith | Dallas Cowboys | Washington Redskins | |||
| 1997 | Luther Ellis | Detroit Lions | Chicago Bears | |||
| 1998 | Randy Moss | Minnesota Vikings | Dallas Cowboys | Herman Moore | Detroit Lions | Pittsburgh Steelers |
| 1999 | Gus Frerotte Germane Crowell Johnnie Morton |
Detroit Lions | Chicago Bears | Dexter Coakley | Dallas Cowboys | Miami Dolphins |
| 2000 | Robert Smith Randy Moss Daunte Culpepper |
Minnesota Vikings | Dallas Cowboys | Charlie Batch | Detroit Lions | New England Patriots |
| 2001 | Ahman Green Brett Favre |
Green Bay Packers | Detroit Lions | Mike Anderson | Denver Broncos | Dallas Cowboys |
| 2002 | Emmitt Smith | Dallas Cowboys | Washington Redskins | Troy Brown | New England Patriots | Detroit Lions |
| 2003 | Dré Bly | Detroit Lions | Green Bay Packers | Jay Fiedler | Miami Dolphins | Dallas Cowboys |
| 2004 | Julius Jones | Dallas Cowboys | Chicago Bears | Peyton Manning | Indianapolis Colts | Detroit Lions |
| 2005 | Michael Vick | Atlanta Falcons | Detroit Lions | Ron Dayne | Denver Broncos | Dallas Cowboys |
| 2006 | Tony Romo | Dallas Cowboys | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Joey Harrington | Miami Dolphins | Detroit Lions |
| 2007 | Brett Favre | Green Bay Packers | Detroit Lions | Tony Romo Chris Canty DeMarcus Ware Terence Newman Greg Ellis |
Dallas Cowboys | New York Jets |
References
- Defunct NFL franchises (for defunct years)
- 2003 NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 0-7611-3148-5) (for game results through 2002)
- Detroit Lions 2003, 2004 and 2005 game schedules (for game results 2003 to 2005)
- Dallas Cowboys 2003, 2004 and 2005 game schedules (for game results 2003 to 2005)
- Thanksgiving Day 2007 Games