Thanksgiving Football Round Up
posted by Trevor Lloyd | November 27, 2023 | In SportsThere are three things that have always been associated with Thanksgiving.: family, food and football. This Thanksgiving we were treated to a lot of football.
Up in Detroit, the Lions took on the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay is fighting for a wildcard spot, and have suffered from injuries and a first-year quarterback, Jordan Love, going through growing pains of the NFL. So coming into the game, not many were willing to give the Packers a legitimate shot to beat Detroit who sit at the number 2 spot in the NFC Playoff seating. But Green Bay pulled off the upset.
Love played one of his best games in his young career as he carved up the Lions’ secondary for three touchdowns and 268 yards through the air. The Packers’ defense had themselves a day, too. As they harassed Lions’ quarterback Jared Goff all game, sacking him three times and forcing three fumbles, one that was returned for a touchdown by Jonathan Owens, along with having the Lions go 0/4 on fourth down conversions. The final score was 29-22 Green Bay.
The second game of the day was down in Dallas as the Cowboys took on the Washington Commanders. This game probably had the most history attached to it, as the Cowboys have battled Washington on Thanksgiving over 10 times since 1966.
The score itself was relatively close for much of the game. Dallas led 20-10 from halftime to the start of the fourth quarter. However, in the fourth quarter Dallas exploded scoring 25 points in 9 game minutes.
Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott had a great day at the office with 4 touchdown passes and 331 yards through the air. On the defensive side for the Cowboys, cornerback Daron Bland made history when he notched his 5th interception returned for a touchdown this season, giving him the all-time record for most picks in a single season. With a blow-out 45-10 win over their division rival, Dallas improves to 8-3 on the year as they try to keep up with Philadelphia for the NFC East crown.
The final game of Turkey Day was played between NFC West rivals in the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers, a match-up that was essentially over before it started as the Niners dominated in every aspect of the game. San Francisco never trailed at any point in the game, and jumped on Seattle early going up 24-3 in the first half. From there, the Niners cruised to a comfortable 31-13 victory.
Running back Christian McCaffrey was unstoppable, rushing for 114 yards on just 18 carries, while the Niners defense outright bullied Seattle all night. Nick Bosa and company sacked Seattle quarterback Geno Smith six times and kept the offense out of the end zone the entire game.
With the win, the Niners improve to 8-3 on the year and continue to challenger Philly for the number one seed in the NFC, who they will play next week in a game that is likely to have major playoff implications all around.