Thanksgiving games offer a tasty NFL fare

Associated Press

After so many years of bad Detroit Lions teams — and their games, no matter the week, meaning so little — all of a sudden that traditional Turkey Day contest in the Motor City is no turkey at all.

Detroit, which is 7-3, hosts the reigning Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, who are 10-0, to open a tremendously compelling three-game NFL feast today.

The always-polarizing Dallas Cowboys (6-4) host the Miami Dolphins (3-7) next in a matchup between two teams on three-game winning streaks, and the San Francisco 49ers (9-1) are at the Baltimore Ravens (7-3) at night in the Harbaugh Bowl, the first time two brothers will face each other as head coaches in the league.

A case can be made that these are the three most intriguing NFL games of the week. It certainly qualifies as the most enticing Thanksgiving Day lineup in decades.

“That’s good. Good for the NFL, good for the fans, good for the people,” Minnesota Vikings linebacker Erin Henderson said. “Something entertaining to watch while we all stuff our faces with that good food.”

The six teams are 42-18, a .700 winning percentage. The last time the holiday’s NFL participants boasted that strong a combined win-loss record was 1975 (also .700).

The Packers are the first unbeaten team to play on Thanksgiving since the 1962 Packers also were 10-0, before losing to Detroit. Green Bay has won its last 16 games in a row.

Give the Lions credit for helping boost the anticipation for this year’s Thanksgiving games, because they sure deserve a lot of the blame for the holiday’s NFL blandness of late.

“Heck, there even was talk about moving that game out of Detroit — I thought it was sacrilegious talk — because Detroit hadn’t been very competitive on those days on national TV. So the thinking was, ‘Hey, let’s spread it around to other cities,”’ said NFL Network analyst Steve Mariucci, who coached the Lions from 2003-05.

“And I think that talk went away, thankfully, because it needs to be in Detroit forever.”

Only two other times in the past 50 years did the Lions arrive at Thanksgiving at 7-3, in 1993 and 1969.

“From what it’s been in the past to now, it’s different. For us to be doing as good as we’re doing right now, it’s real exciting,” said Detroit defensive lineman Corey Williams, who used to play for the Packers.