Your Guide to NFL Conversation Points for the Thanksgiving Games

The traditional American Thanksgiving essentially comes down to three things: family, food, and football. Some also enjoy a Macy’s Day Parade or the Dog Show.

Still, those are truly the essentials that go hand-in-hand before your tryptophan-induced nap and your Black Friday plate of leftovers from the refrigerator the following morning.

For the die-hard football fans, it’s just another game of three games that you can’t look away from. However, for some, it may be the only football they watch all regular season amongst loved ones, and there’s something kind of special about that. Nothing brings us together or gives us an excuse not to talk to distant relatives like the score bug getting digitized cornucopia above it, a commercial cutaway to turkeys on a farm, or the Turkey Leg Award, now in honor of the late great John Madden.

There’s bad news this year, folks. The slate of games is not great. There’s a strong potential that any of these three matchups could either result in blowouts or be ugly to watch, or a little bit of both due to the preseason scheduling by the NFL that can’t be flexed for a holiday.

We must remain strong so that there’s a conversation driving the viewership as you run the risk of either having a relative turn off the television to something else, possibly a rerun of the parade, or the nightmare scenario of discussing politics while the screen is off because you don’t have say in the household.

Turkey isn’t the best meat by any means, but we eat it anyway because it’s ingrained in culture for a day. The Lions and Cowboys play yearly in domes that don’t capture the picturesque outdoors of the fall cold, but we still have to watch anyway.

With each of the three matchups, here is a list of talking points or things to watch amidst them all to bring up at your Thanksgiving gathering.

Whether you’re a loyalist respecting the shield or watching for the first time, here’s what will keep the tradition alive and interesting this Thanksgiving slate.

Detroit Lions vs. Chicago Bears // 12:30 PM EST

PHOTO: David Reginek/Imagn Images

As is tradition, we get a Lions game in Detroit. This time, however, the Lions will be odds-on Super Bowl favorites that have destroyed nearly every opponent in their path mercilessly and are having fun doing it. They set us up with a division rival game against the Chicago Bears, and at the beginning of the year, this had all the makeup of a marquee matchup with rookie Caleb Williams being the prince that was promised to save them from quarterback purgatory. However, the wheels fell off, offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was eviscerated and fired, and everyone is miserably awaiting for Williams to get a proper support system. Caleb will be a fun element to watch in a standalone game, but the Lions will likely want to put on a show.

• Who do you think is more important to the Lions’ success on offense, Sonic (Jahmyr Gibbs) or Knuckles (David Montgomery)?
• Could Brian Branch win Defensive Player of the Year?
• Could Jared Goff win MVP?
• “Look out for a trick play. Ben Johnson loves those. Where would you coach next year if he gets an offer?”
• Do you think Caleb Williams will figure it out with a new coach and coordinator?
• “How quick Caleb gets the ball out against the Lions pass rush is going to decide the game here.”

Dallas Cowboys vs New York Giants // 4:40 PM EST

The Cowboys get the permanent biggest spot of the regular season midday at Jerry World, and preseason, giving us a “marquee helmet” matchup of two Tiffany franchises sounded like a great idea.

Until both of these teams plummeted down the hill in a box car in flames at a hundred miles per hour.

We’re going to be getting a clash of backup quarterbacks your relatives have never heard of before. The Giants are starting Tommy DeVito, the Italian cult icon for a moment last year, as a third-string quarterback because they’re driving the tank to lose games for a new rookie quarterback next year after deciding Daniel Jones is no longer the guy.

The Cowboys were the worst home team in NFL history in their blinding dome BEFORE the Dak Prescott injury, and are now starting Cooper Rush because the backup Trey Lance is still a rookie in a contract year and may get a paycheck elsewhere. You have to remind yourself that football is football and that you would kill for this game in July.

• Which pass-rusher would you rather have: Micah Parsons or Dexter Lawrence?
• Will Mike McCarthy be fired midseason, or will they wait until afterward?
• If you were Deion Sanders, which job would you rather coach at?
• “Watch Malik Nabers against the 4-3 defense here. Devito is going to be leaning on the matchup against Daron Bland.”
• Do you think Saquon Barkley is watching this game and laughing?
• Which franchise would you rather be going forward?

Green Bay Packers vs Miami Dolphins // 8:20 PM EST

Ah, finally, a cold-weather outdoor game that embodies the spirit of the holiday. Alas, you may be knocked out from your turkey meal by then, but the wildcard Thursday night matchup that isn’t limited to the Lions or Cowboys is always an odd one. The Miami Dolphins have been the poster child of “Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it,” from having the reputation of the neon-color-wearing, soft, skill, and speed-based machine product that wavers when the temperature teeters below tropical. After the loss to Kansas City in the arctic tundra in the postseason again and a milquetoast year thus far for Mike McDaniel after not being able to pull off wins in Tua’s absence due to injury, they’ve been largely irrelevant aside from just being in the hunt.

The Packers, meanwhile, are trying to tread water in a division with the dominant Lions and the Vikings in the NFC North. Matt Lafleur, the other coach on the Shanahan tree next to McDaniel, has been able to weather the storm in the games that Jordan Love was out. However, Love has matched his interception total from last year in Brett Favre fashion, and we’re still figuring out if what we see will be the good Love that almost led a Super Bowl run last year or the bad Love.

• “The Packers’ receiving core is a murderers’ row of options, but do you think they need to have someone emerge as the true #1 option?”
• “Josh Jacobs is against the defensive front of Miami, and how Matt Lafleur unlocks it is what I’m watching with their #1 ranked rushing attack.”
• “Xavier McKinney could win defensive player of the year and is one of the best safeties in the game right now. Watch and see if he shuts down Tyreek Hill and eliminates the deep ball.”
• “How important is Tua to this system in Miami? They looked rattled in the games that he was gone, but is it because he’s that good, or was there just too little time to involve the pieces around him?”
• “Devon Achane is one of the most unique running backs in football. The way he’s used as a receiver or just a runningback in this cold weather is something to watch.”
• “If the Dolphins find a way to win this game in cold weather, will you take them more seriously in January?”

Enjoy your turkey, even if it’s dry. Have comfortable and lovely conversations with your loved ones.

Most of all, enjoy the football – good or bad.

PHOTO: David Reginek/Imagn Images