Happy Thanksgiving.
If you are like millions of people around the country, you’ll be sitting down on Thursday not just to a mouth-watering meal, but also to watch the day’s slate of NFL games surrounded by friends and family. Maybe your uncle is pestering you about when that next job or relationship will come about. Maybe you’re the resident sports expert of the family, being constantly asked what a first down is or “Isn’t that Taylor Swift’s fiancé?” (Yes, it is, Grandma.)
Whatever the situation, let’s arm you with 10 conversation starters, trivia and fun facts about Thanksgiving’s interwoven history with football, the better to make you seem like the most well-informed fan at your holiday gathering.
1. Heisman Face-off
Thursday night’s game between the Ravens and the Bengals features a rare Thanksgiving matchup between former Heisman winners, with Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson (2016, Louisville) and running back Derrick Henry (Alabama, 2015) facing off against Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow (2019, LSU). It’s the first time that’s happened in more than a decade, though there have been several others throughout NFL history, including:
In 1996, Marcus Allen (1981, USC) was on the Chiefs team that beat Barry Sanders (1988, Oklahoma State) and the Lions 28-24. Allen scored two touchdowns that game to pass Walter Payton and set the then-NFL career rushing touchdowns record with 112.
In 1979, the Houston Oilers beat the Dallas Cowboys 30-24. That game featured three Heisman winners in Houston’s Earl Campbell (1977, Texas), and the Cowboys’ Roger Staubach (1963, Navy) and Tony Dorsett (1976, Pittsburgh). The game was also a haberdasher’s dream, with Houston coach Bum Phillips sporting a cowboy hat and Tom Landry of the Cowboys wearing his trademark fedora.
In 1972, Steve Spurrier (1966, Florida) started for the San Francisco 49ers against the Dallas Cowboys. The 49ers won 31-10. Staubach was the backup quarterback for the Cowboys that day, but he did get in and complete 1 of 5 passes for 12 yards.
2. Thanksgiving Day records
Career passing leader: Matthew Stafford, with 3,000 yards.
Most passing touchdowns in a game: Peyton Manning (2004) and Bob Griese (1977) tied with six.
Rushing yards in a game: O.J. Simpson (1976) with 273.
Career receiving touchdowns: Calvin Johnson with 11. (The Lions went 3-4 in the seven Thanksgiving games Stafford and Johnson played together.)
Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford played in seven Thanksgiving games together in Detroit. (Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
3. Why the Lions and Cowboys always play on Thanksgiving
In 1934, G.A. Richards, then the owner of the Lions, scheduled a Thanksgiving game with the Bears. Richards wanted to create excitement around the Lions, who he bought earlier that year when they were the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans. Richards moved the team north into Michigan and renamed them the Detroit Lions. The Bears beat the Lions 19-16 in front of 26,000 at the University of Detroit Stadium that year, but that didn’t stop Richards.
The Lions have hosted Thanksgiving ever since.
The Cowboys joined the festivities in 1966, beating the Cleveland Browns 26-14 at the Cotton Bowl. Again, the intention was to generate national attention. General manager Tex Schramm believed Thanksgiving would do so for the Cowboys. The listed attendance was 80,259, and Dallas has played on Thanksgiving ever since. The only exceptions were in 1975 and 1977 when the St. Louis Cardinals hosted the holiday game, a move orchestrated by commissioner Pete Rozelle. The Cardinals didn’t latch on popularity-wise, and the Cowboys returned to hosting.
4. All-time records
Perhaps not surprisingly, while the Lions have the most wins all-time on the holiday with an overall record of 38-45-2, the Cowboys have a better winning percentage with a record of 34-22-1 (.605).
5. Starry debuts
Both Jackson and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes are two-time MVPs and both are making their Thanksgiving debuts this year. They’re tied for the most MVPs won by a player before his first Thanksgiving game, in the Super Bowl era. Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas won MVPs in 1959 and 1964 before making his Thanksgiving debut in 1965. The Colts tied the Lions 24-24 in that pre-Super Bowl era matchup.
Jackson and Mahomes have combined to win four of the last seven NFL MVP’s. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
6. Reba McEntire brought the show
This year, the three halftime performers on Thanksgiving are Post Malone (Dallas), Lil Jon (Baltimore), and Jack White (Detroit). The tradition of having a concert performance at halftime on Thanksgiving began with country superstar Reba McEntire in 1997. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, ever the man with an eye for grandeur, orchestrated McEntire doing a performance to launch the now-annual Salvation Army Red Kettle campaign that the Cowboys run. Dallas lost that game 27-14 to the Houston Oilers.
7. Jacksonville stays home on Thanksgiving
The Jaguars are the only NFL franchise to never play on Thanksgiving. This is because of several factors, including the comparatively small size of their home market and their not being in the same conference as the Lions and Cowboys, or a natural rival to either team. So, Jaguars players get to enjoy the day with their families.
They are one of three franchises to have not played on Thanksgiving since 1990. The Rams haven’t played since 1975 and the other is Cleveland, which last graced Thanksgiving TV screens in 1989. The Detroit Lions beat the Browns 13-10 that day. Bernie Kosar was the Browns quarterback then (he was 28 for 38 for 296 passing yards, a touchdown, and an interception in the game). Kosar, 61, has recently been in the news for his battle with liver failure. He announced Monday on social media that he had been discharged from the hospital after a successful liver transplant the week prior.
8. Super Bowl pedigrees
The Chiefs are playing on Thanksgiving just a few months after a 40-22 loss in Super Bowl LIX against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The last team to play on Thanksgiving the year after winning the Super Bowl was the Seattle Seahawks in 2014. That calendar year, they beat the Broncos 43-8 in February, then beat the 49ers 19-3 on Thanksgiving in a rematch of the NFC Championship game from months prior.
The Seahawks overwhelmed the 49ers in the NFC Championship rematch on Thanksgiving in 2014. (Brian Bahr / Getty Images)
9. Interesting stats from the leather-helmet era
If you really want to stun the crowd with some trivia, here are various Thanksgiving Day football facts from before 1950.
In 1923, the Chicago Bears and Chicago Cardinals played an all-Windy City Thanksgiving game. The Bears won 3-0. The game was played at Cubs Park, which was renamed Wrigley Field in 1927.
Though the Carolina Panthers franchise was founded in 1993 and made its Thanksgiving debut in 2015 (a 33-14 win over Dallas), it wasn’t the first time a team called the Panthers played on the holiday. The Los Angeles Buccaneers beat the Detroit Panthers 9-6 in 1926.
The New York Yankees (yes, the Yankees, not the Giants) are 2-1 in Thanksgiving Day games. The wins came in 1946 and 1949. In the 1946 matchup, the Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers (yep, still talking about football) 21-7.
10. The holiday belongs to Madden
We’d be remiss in failing to remind you of the man whose voice permeated living rooms for years on Thanksgiving, sharing the fun of food and football with millions.
We’re talking, of course, about John Madden.
Madden’s legendary broadcast career included 20 games on Thanksgiving, during his time at CBS and Fox. He became synonymous with handing turkey legs to the players of the game and celebrating his favorite holiday with his favorite sport.
In 1996, Madden got his first taste of Turducken in New Orleans. He was so transfixed with the turkey, duck and chicken concoction that he frequently discussed his love for it on broadcasts after that. He helped raise a regional dish to national tradition.
“There’s no place that I would rather be today on Thanksgiving than right here, right now, at a football game,” Madden once said at the Bears-Lions Thanksgiving game in 1997. “There are just certain things that go together: the turkey, the family, the tradition, football. … And we have it all today.”