Thanksgiving Football Preview/Results

This Thanksgiving Thursday, 6 teams in the NFL will battle it out on a day that we give thanks for our families, friends, and NFL football. All 3 of the games on the schedule are divisional matchups which should lead to some close, exciting finishes. Below are the descriptions and predictions for each matchup.

Bears at Lions (12:30 PM on CBS)

The 7-1 Bears go to Detroit to take on the 4-6 Lions in the earliest game of the Thanksgiving spectacle. The Bears have had a massive turnaround this season with the addition of star defensive lineman Khalil Mack, and have found their way due to the play of Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, and Running Back Tarik Cohen. They will take on a struggling Lions team, with a defense letting up 26.3 opponent points per game while only scoring 22.2 points per game. The veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford has been leading this team poorly this year which has resulted in a down year for the team from Detroit. In this game, the Lions offense will attempt to score but their lack of protection on the offensive line of Matthew Stafford will lead them to fall short against the strong Bears defense. The explosiveness of the Bears offense will be too much for the Lions defense. The Bears will easily win this division battle. Chase Daniels will make the start for the Bears in place of the injured Trubisky, so although this should be an easy one for the Bears on paper, without Trubisky there could be some trouble.

RESULT: Chicago Bears 23 Detroit Lions 16

Redskins at Cowboys (4:30 PM on FOX)

In the second game of the tripleheader, the 6-4 Redskins will visit the 5-5 Cowboys. The Redskins have been playing well in the division lately, but with their Quarterback Alex Smith going down with an injury which ended his season, Colt McCoy will look to fill the hole and come up with the win on Thursday. The Cowboys have been heating up lately and playing well after the acquisition of Amari Cooper from Oakland and the emergence of their run game led by Ezekiel Elliot. The Redskins will struggle without their starting quarterback and the Cowboys will perform well due to their strong offensive line play and Ezekiel Elliott. This is a good matchup that will sway the course of the division at the season’s end as the division race is tight with all teams being within three games of each other. The Cowboys will use their offensive weapons to their advantage and will win this game.

RESULT: Dallas Cowboys 31 Washington Redskins 23

Falcons at Saints (8:20 PM on NBC)

Drew Brees and the 9-1 New Orleans Saints will face Matt Ryan and the 4-6 Atlanta Falcons this Thursday night at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. One guy to watch this game on that New Orleans offense is #41, Alvin Kamara. Kamara has already recorded 617 yards and 11 touchdowns this season and should have a great game against a banged-up Falcons defense. Falcons are 21st in stopping the run this season and their defense really doesn’t look good this year, so I would look for plenty of runs from Alvin Kamara and also Mark Ingram. Now moving onto the Falcons offense. One player to definitely look out for is Julio Jones. Number 11 has scored his only 3 touchdowns in his last 3 games and he leads the league in receiving yards with 1158. It will be extremely interesting to see Julio face these young cornerbacks in New Orleans, especially since he did not play in week 3 against the Saints. Overall, I believe this extremely hot New Orleans team will dominate Atlanta on both sides of the football and the Saints will win this game.

RESULT: New Orleans Saints 31 Atlanta Falcons 17

WRITTEN BY: RYAN DICKSON AND TYLER WICHMAN