My son, Sam, perceptive as always, wondered why Oakland is playing in one of the Thanksgiving Day games Thursday. The 4-7 Raiders are at Dallas.
“Why couldn’t they come up with a better game for Thanksgiving?” Sam said.
For those of you asking the same thing, here’s the answer: It’s CBS’ turn to televise the Cowboys’ game this year on Thanksgiving. Since the network has the rights to inter-conference games when the AFC teams are on the road, there were only two choices: Denver or Oakland, the two AFC teams scheduled to visit Dallas this year.
So why not schedule Peyton Manning and the Broncos for Thanksgiving? Now that would be a feast. Imagine that 51-48 thriller on Oct. 6 filling up your turkey day? Nobody would eat.
The way it was explained to me, the ratings for the Thanksgiving Day games remain mostly the same regardless of who plays. So CBS and the NFL went for the big number with Dallas-Denver in the doubleheader window in early October.
As a result, we get the blah Raiders on Thursday. Talk about a turkey.
It doesn’t have to be this way. I’ve argued for years that it is time to break with the Detroit-Dallas tradition to create better match-ups on Thanksgiving Day.
I have no problems with Green Bay at Detroit on Thursday. It still is an interesting game even if Aaron Rodgers doesn’t play.
However, how about all of those years when the Lions were beyond terrible? Why did we have to stomach those bad Matt Millen teams on Thanksgiving Day? Talk about ruining your appetite. It hardly was a showcase for the NFL.
As for Dallas, I’ve seen my fill of Jerry Jones’ mediocre ensembles. The Cowboys have won one playoff game since the 90s. I know Dallas is America’s team, but enough already. That goes triple if they are playing a team like the Raiders.
The addition of a third game on Thanksgiving night does allow for some variety. NBC will air Pittsburgh at Baltimore.
How about expanding the concept to all three games? Thanksgiving is a huge day for football consumption. The NFL invites all of America over to its house. It needs to serve us its best meal, and not processed turkey (i.e., the Raiders).
I have a vague recollection that they crossed conference lines for the Thanksgiving Day games in 1981. Chiefs at Detroit was on CBS (the NFC channel), Bears at Dallas was on NBC (the AFC channel). Perhaps the best solution would be to give NBC one of the two early games, FOX the other, and CBS the night game.
Ford has threatened to stop sponsoring the NFL if Detroit no longer plays on Thanksgiving.
The NFL tried alternate Thanksgiving sites in the 1970s but that didn’t work.
If you prefer ham or something else on Thanksgiving, that’s your business. Most of us are great with the turkey.