Since its inception in 1920, theNational Football League (NFL) has played games onThanksgiving Day, patterned upon the historic playing ofcollege football games on or around the November holiday. The NFL's Thanksgiving Day games have traditionally included one game hosted by theDetroit Lions since 1934, and one game hosted by theDallas Cowboys since 1966 (with two exceptions in 1975 and 1977). Since 2006, a third game has also been played inprime time on Thanksgiving night. Unlike the two afternoon games, this game has no fixed teams.

In 2001, the NFL began branding the games as theThanksgiving Classic.^[1] In 2022, the league changed the branding to theJohn Madden Thanksgiving Celebration in honor of former head coach and broadcasterJohn Madden, who died in December 2021.^[2]

The concept ofAmerican football games being played on Thanksgiving Day dates back to 1876, shortly after the game had been invented, as it was a day that most people had off from work. In that year, thecollege football teams atYale andPrinceton began an annual tradition of playing each other on Thanksgiving Day.^[3] TheUniversity of Michigan also made it a tradition to play annual Thanksgiving games, holding 19 such games from 1885 to 1905.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} The Thanksgiving Day games between Michigan and theChicago Maroons in the 1890s have been cited as "The Beginning of Thanksgiving Day Football."^[9] In some areas, most commonly inNew England, high-school teams play on Thanksgiving, usually to wrap-up the regular-season.

By the time football had become a professional event, playing on Thanksgiving had already become an institution. Records of pro football being played on Thanksgiving date back to as early as the 1890s, with the firstpro–am team, theAllegheny Athletic Association ofPittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1902, theNational Football League, aMajor League Baseball-backed organization based entirely inPennsylvania and unrelated to the current NFL, attempted to settle its championship over Thanksgiving weekend; after the game ended in a tie, eventually all three teams in the league claimed to have won the title.

Members of theOhio League, during its early years, usually placed their marquee matchups on Thanksgiving Day. For instance, in 1905 and 1906 theLatrobe Athletic Association andCanton Bulldogs, considered at the time to be two of the best teams in professional football (along with theMassillon Tigers), played on Thanksgiving. Arigging scandal with the Tigers leading up to the 1906 game led to severe drops in attendance for the Bulldogs and ultimately led to their suspension of operations.

During the 1910s, the Ohio League stopped holding Thanksgiving games because many of its players coached high school teams and were unavailable. This was not the case in other regional circuits: in 1919, theNew York Pro Football League featured a Thanksgiving matchup between theBuffalo Prospects and theRochester Jeffersons. The game ended in a scoreless tie, leading to a rematch the next Sunday for the league championship.

Several other NFL teams played regularly on Thanksgiving in the first eighteen years of the league, including theChicago Bears andChicago Cardinals (1922–33; the Bears played the Lions from 1934 to 1938 while the Cardinals switched to theGreen Bay Packers for 1934 and 1935),Frankford Yellow Jackets,Pottsville Maroons,Buffalo All-Americans,Canton Bulldogs (even after the teammoved to Cleveland they played the 1924 Thanksgiving game in Canton), and theNew York Giants (1929–38, who always played acrosstown rival).

The first owner of the Lions,George A. Richards, started the tradition of the Thanksgiving Day game as a gimmick to get people to go to Lions football games, and to continue a tradition begun by the city'sprevious NFL teams.^[10] What differentiated the Lions' efforts from other teams that played on the holiday was that Richards owned radio stationWJR, a major affiliate of the NBCBlue Network (the forerunner to today'sAmerican Broadcasting Company); he was able to negotiatean agreement with NBC to carry his Thanksgiving games live across the network.^[11]

During theFranksgiving controversy in 1939 and 1940, the only two teams to play the game were thePittsburgh Steelers andPhiladelphia Eagles, as both teams were in the same state (Pennsylvania). (At the time, then-U.S. PresidentFranklin Roosevelt wanted to move the holidayfor economic reasons and many states were resistant to the move; half the states recognized the move and the other half did not. This complicated scheduling for Thanksgiving games. Incidentally, the two teams were also exploring thepossibility of a merger at the time.^[12]) Because of the looming World War II and the resulting shorter seasons, the NFL did not schedule any Thanksgiving games in 1941, nor did it schedule any in the subsequent years until the war ended in 1945. When the Thanksgiving games resumed in 1945, only the Lions' annual home game would remain on the Thanksgiving holiday.

TheAll-America Football Conference andAmerican Football League, both of which would later be absorbed into the NFL, also held Thanksgiving contests, although neither of those leagues had permanent hosts. Likewise, theAFL of 1926 also played two Thanksgiving games in its lone season of existence, while theAFL of 1936 hosted one in its first season, which featured theCleveland Rams, a future NFL team, and the1940–41 incarnation of the American Football League played two games in 1940 on the earlier "Franksgiving" date.

In 1951, the Packers began a thirteen-season run as the perpetual opponent to the Lions each year through 1963.

In 1966, theDallas Cowboys, who had been founded six years earlier, adopted the practice of hosting Thanksgiving games. It is widely rumored that the Cowboys sought a guarantee that they would regularly host Thanksgiving games as a condition of their very first one (since games on days other than Sunday were uncommon at the time and thus high attendance was not a certainty).^[13]

This is only partly true: Dallas had in fact decided on their own to host games on Thanksgiving; team presidentTex Schramm was enticed by the publicity that would come with a permanent nationally televised contest and volunteered to be host when the NFL proposed the second Thanksgiving game.^[14] Schramm also anticipated ahome field advantage in that the shorter week would favor the home team because the opponent would not only lose three days of practice but additional time traveling to Dallas that the Cowboys could use to prepare.^[13]

In 1975 and 1977, at the behest of then-CommissionerPete Rozelle, theSt. Louis Cardinals replaced Dallas as a host team (Dallas then hosted St. Louis in 1976). Although the Cardinals, at the time known as the "Cardiac Cards" due to their propensity for winning very close games, were a modest success at the time, they were nowhere near as popular nationwide as the Cowboys, who were regular Super Bowl contenders during this era. This, combined with St. Louis's consistently weak attendance, a series of ugly Cardinals losses in the three-game stretch, and opposition from theKirkwood–Webster Groves Turkey Day Game (a localhigh school football contest) led to Dallas resuming regular hosting duties in 1978.

With their resumption as a regular NFL Thanksgiving Day venue, the Cowboys requested and received an agreement guaranteeing the Cowboys a spot on Thanksgiving Day indefinitely.^[15]

Since 1978, Thanksgiving games have been hosted in Detroit and Dallas every year, with Detroit in the early time slot and Dallas in the late afternoon slot. Because of television network commitments in place through the 2013 season, to make sure that both the AFC-carrying network (NBC from 1965 to 1997, and CBS since 1998) and the NFC-carrying network (CBS from 1956 to 1993, and Fox since 1994) got at least one game each, one of these games was between NFC opponents, and one featured AFC-NFC opponents. Thus, the AFC could showcase only one team on Thanksgiving, and the AFC team was always the visiting team.

Since 2006, a third NFL game on Thanksgiving has been played inprime time. It originally aired on theNFL Network as part of itsThursday Night Football package until 2011, when the game was moved to NBC'sSunday Night Football package under the NFL's current television deals. The night game has never had a dedicated host team or any conference tie-in, meaning the league can place any game into the time slot. Since NBC took over the prime time game in 2012,divisional matchups have been normally scheduled, with the exceptions being in 2016, 2021, 2022 and 2024. In 2014,a series of changes to the broadcast contracts freed CBS from its obligation to carry an AFC team, and by 2018, the last vestiges of conference ties to the Thanksgiving games were eliminated (although in practice games on Fox have remained all-NFC contests).

The originally scheduled 2020 primetime game between theBaltimore Ravens and thePittsburgh Steelers was postponed to the following Wednesday, December 2, after multiple Baltimore players and staff tested positive forCOVID-19 in the days before the game. This thus marked the first time no primetime contest was held since 2005.^[16]

On November 11, 2022, the league announced that the Thanksgiving games would be branded as the "John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration", honoring the memory of head coach and broadcasterJohn Madden. Madden called 20 Thanksgiving games as the lead analyst forCBS Sports from 1981 to 1993 andFox Sports from 1994 to 2001.^[2]

• 1920: Anurban legend states that theChicago Tigers andDecatur Staleys challenged each other to a Thanksgivingduel in the league's inaugural season, with the loser to berelegated out of the league. Although the story is apocryphal, the Tigers did fold after the 1920 campaign and the Staleys moved to Chicago early in the 1921 season, later renaming themselves the Bears.^[17]
• 1921: In a matchup of two of the league's best teams, theChicago Staleys lost to theBuffalo All-Americans at home. The Staleys demanded a rematch, with Buffalo agreeing to a December reprise only as an off-the-recordexhibition game. Chicago won the second game, which ended up counting despite the All-Americans' insistence,controversially handing Chicago the championship.
• 1925: A Thanksgiving NFL game was played in Detroit for the first time when the league's second Motor City team, theDetroit Panthers, hosted theRock Island Independents. The visitors won, 6–3.^[18]
• 1928: A third Detroit NFL franchise, theWolverines, hosted a Thanksgiving Day game during their one and only year of existence.^[19][20] The team won a laugher, 33–0, over theDayton Triangles atUniversity of Detroit Stadium.^[19]
• 1929: TheChicago Cardinals'Ernie Nevers scored all 40 points — a record that still stands — in a 40–6 rout over their crosstown rivals theChicago Bears.
• 1934: The fourth Detroit NFL franchise, theLions, began their Thanksgiving tradition with a game hosting the Chicago Bears.George S. Halas & Co. won 19–16 in front of 26,000 people.^[21]
• 1952: The expansionDallas Texans were forced to move their lone remaining home game to theRubber Bowl in Akron, Ohio due to a scheduling conflict. Their opponent, theChicago Bears, underestimated the winless Texans and sent their second string team to the game. The resulting 27–23 upset proved to be Dallas' only victory of their existence.
• 1962: TheDetroit Lions handed the 10–0Green Bay Packers their lone defeat of the season, 26–14. The game was dubbed the "Thanksgiving Day Massacre" due to the dominant performance by the Lions defense, who sackedBart Starr 11 times.^[22][23]
• 1966: TheDallas Cowboys joined the Lions as annual Thanksgiving Day hosts with a defeat of the visitingCleveland Browns, 26–14.^[24]
• 1969: In a blinding snowstorm atTiger Stadium, theMinnesota Vikings blanked theLions 27–0, featuring an interception byJim Marshall, who lateraled toAlan Page on the return, resulting in a touchdown.
• 1974: The Dallas Cowboys lost their Hall of Fame QBRoger Staubach to an injury and fell behind Washington. Then the team's backup, an unknown and untested youngster namedClint Longley, led a furious 4th-quarter comeback that saw Dallas pull off a stunning 31-27 victory.
• 1976: TheBuffalo Bills managed both best and worst offensive performances in the history of NFL Thanksgiving football whenO. J. Simpson ran for 273 yards, anNFL record. Bills reserve quarterbackGary Marangi made history of another sort, completing only 4 of 21 pass attempts for 29 yards and arating of just 19.7. The Lions won, 27–14.^[25]
• 1980: With theDetroit Lions andChicago Bears tied 17–17 in the newPontiac Silverdome at the end of regulation, the first Thanksgivingovertime game was born. Speedy BearDave Williams returned the opening kickoff 95 yards in 13 seconds for a game-winning touchdown, setting a record for the shortest overtime period in NFL history.
• 1989: In what was known as the "Bounty Bowl", thePhiladelphia Eagles crushed theDallas Cowboys by a score of 27–0. Allegations surfaced that the Eagles had placed a bounty on the Cowboys kicker, thus becoming the first of a string of three bitterly contested games between the two teams, the other two beingBounty Bowl II and thePorkchop Bowl a year later.
• 1993: Cowboy defensive linemanLeon Lett gained fifteen minutes of national infamy when in the final seconds he accidentally turned an apparently game-winning field goal block into a fumble by touching the spinning football and moving it forward. Given a second chance from point blank range,Miami Dolphins kickerPete Stoyanovich knocked it through for a 16–14 win.^[26]
• 1998: Remembered in football lore as "The Coin Toss game". As thePittsburgh Steelers andDetroit Lions went toovertime tied 16–16, Pittsburgh'sJerome Bettis called the coin flip by saying both heads and tails. Unfortunately, head refereePhil Luckett declared Detroit the winner of the toss on live TV. The Lions elected to receive and quickly drove down the field to kick a game-winning field goal on their first possession. Later that day in Dallas, Vikings WRRandy Moss would show a national audience why he was headed for 1st-team All Pro status as a rookie by catching 5 passes for 157 yards and 3 TDs in Minnesota's win.
• 2008: In one of the greatest mismatches of the Thanksgiving series, the 10–1Tennessee Titans annihilated the 0–11Lions, 47–10. Detroit would go on to become the 33rd winless team in NFL history and the first ever to lose 16 games.^[27]
• 2011: The trio of games^[28] was lauded as one of the better Thanksgiving Day slates in the series. In the nightcap head coaching brothersJohn Harbaugh of the Ravens andJim Harbaugh of the 49ers matched wits in a preview of 2012'sSuper Bowl XLVII.
• 2012: In the infamousButt Fumble game,New York Jets quarterbackMark Sanchez ran headfirst into the buttocks of his own offensive lineman, guardBrandon Moore. TheNew England Patriots returned the fumble for a touchdown and would go on to win 49–19 in blowout fashion.
• 2013: In a game against theBaltimore Ravens,Pittsburgh Steelers head coachMike Tomlin became the subject of controversy when video replay showed him apparently interfering with a kick return fromJacoby Jones and stopping a probable touchdown as he stood on the sideline.^[29] No penalty was called on Tomlin, but the Steelers would still go on to lose, 22–20. Tomlin was later fined $100,000 for his actions by the NFL.^[30]
• 2022: In the "23 Seconds Game",^[31] an homage to the13 Seconds playoff game the year before, theBuffalo Bills defeated theDetroit Lions when with 23 seconds on the clock they ran a 21-second field goal drive.Tyler Bass hit a walk-off 28–25 game winner for the favored Bills.^[32]
• 2023: During a blowout 45–10 win over theWashington Commanders, Cowboys cornerbackDaRon Bland recorded his fifth interception returned for a touchdown on the season, breaking the NFL record.^[33]
• 2024: After trailing 23–7, the Bears came within three points of the Lions and were driving to tie the game or even pull off the upset. However, Chicago rookie quarterbackCaleb Williams and head coachMatt Eberflusmismanaged the clock in the last 34 seconds: with one time-out remaining, the clock running, and just outsidefield goal range on third down, the Bears opted to attempt one additional play with the hopes of improving field position, calling a time-out, and making the game-tying field goal attempt, but setting into formation and executing the third-down play ended up taking too much time and ran out the clock, preserving Detroit's first Thanksgiving win since 2016.^[34] Meanwhile, it was the Bears' sixth consecutive loss, prompting management to make the franchise's first-ever release of a head coach midseason as it parted ways withMatt Eberflus the following day.^[35]

Since2001 teams playing on Thanksgiving have wornthrowback uniforms on numerous occasions. In 2002, it extended to nearly all games of the weekend, and in some cases also involved classic field logos at the stadiums.

From 2001 to 2003, Dallas chose to represent the 1990s Cowboys dynasty by wearing the navy "Double-Star" jersey not seen since1995. In2004, the team wore uniforms not seen since1963. In 2009, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of theAFL, both Dallas andOakland played in a "AFL Legacy Game." In 2013, the Cowboys intended to wear their 1960s throwbacks, but chose not to do so after the NFL adopted a new policy requiring players and teams to utilize only one helmet a season to address the league's newconcussion protocol; rather than sport an incomplete throwback look, the Cowboys instead wore their standard blue jerseys at home for the first time since 1963.^[36] In 2015, the Cowboys resurrected their 1994 white "Double-Star" jerseys only this time wore them with white pants as part of the league'sColor Rush, a trial run of specially-designed, monochromatic jerseys to be worn during Thursday games. In 2022, after the NFL lifted the one-helmet rule, the Cowboys resumed wearing the throwback navy "Double-Star" jerseys on Thanksgiving.

In 2001–2004, and again in 2008, 2010, 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2023 the Detroit Lions have worn throwback uniforms based on their very early years. For 2019 and 2022, Detroit wore its silver Color Rush uniforms.

In 1997,the Salvation Army began the tradition of kicking off itsChristmas Kettle campaign during halftime of the Dallas game.^[37] The campaign kickoff event includes ahalftime show by a major recording artist,^[38][39] with halftime concerts also eventually being added to the Detroit game (which traditionally supports theUnited Way's Live United campaign^[40][41]). The evening contest also features a halftime concert, which the NFL promotes co-equally with the others, but this concert is usually not televised; its current broadcaster, NBC, uses that time slot to air its own pre-recordedhuman-interest profiles and typically only airs a few short highlights, whereas CBS and Fox air the Detroit and Dallas halftime shows in full.^[42] The NFL has treated the Thanksgiving halftime slots as a prime exposure opportunity second only to theSuper Bowl halftime show.^[43]

It has remained a tradition for the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions to host the afternoon games dating several decades. Other teams eventually expressed interest in hosting Thanksgiving Day games.Lamar Hunt, the former owner of theChiefs (who had hosted Thanksgiving Day games from 1967 to 1969 as an AFL team prior to the merger), lobbied heavily in favor of his team hosting a game on the holiday. When the NFL adopted a third, prime time game, the Chiefs were selected as the first team to host such a contest, but the team was not made a permanent host, and Hunt's death shortly after the 2006 contest ended the lobbying on behalf of the team.

The host issue came to a head in 2008, focusing particularly on the winless Lions. Going into the game, the Lions had lost their last four Thanksgiving Day games, and opinions amongst the media had suggested removing the Lions and replacing them with a more attractive matchup.^{[citation needed]} The team also required an extension to prevent a localtelevision blackout.^[44] The Lions were routed by theTennessee Titans 47–10, en route to the team's0–16 season.^[45] NFL commissionerRoger Goodell confirmed that the Lions would stay on Thanksgiving Day for the2009 season, but kept the issue open to revisit in the future.^[46][47]

Conversely, the Dallas Cowboys, who typically represent a larger television draw,^[48] have had far fewer public calls to be replaced on Thanksgiving Day. One issue that has been debated is a perceived unfairadvantage of playing at home on Thanksgiving Day.^[49] The advantage is given in the form of an extra day of practice for the home team while the road team has to travel to the game site. This is true for most Thursday games, but with the night games, the visitor can travel to the game site after practice on Wednesday and hold the final walkthrough the following morning.

With the introduction of the prime time game, which effectively allows all teams in the league an opportunity to play on Thanksgiving Day, along with the introduction of year-longThursday Night Football ensuring all teams have one Thursday game during the regular season (thus negating any on-field advantages or disadvantages to being selected for Thanksgiving Day), the calls for the Lions and the Cowboys to be removed have diminished.

DuMont was the first network totelevise Thanksgiving Day games in1953;CBS took over in1956, and in1965, the firstcolor television broadcast of an NFL game was the Thanksgiving Day match between the Lions and theBaltimore Colts.

Starting in1970, the Detroit "early" game and the Dallas "late" game initially rotated annually as intra-conference (NFC at NFC) and inter-conference (AFC at NFC) games. This was to satisfy the then-television contract balance between the network holding the rights to the "AFC package" and televised inter-conference games in which the visiting team is from the AFC (NBC from 1970 to 1997, and CBS since 1998) and the network with the "NFC package" (CBS from 1970 to 1993, andFox since 1994).

In2006, the third game in primetime originally aired on theNFL Network. In2012, NBC took over broadcasting the primetime game, and ever since all three broadcast networks with Sunday NFL rights carry one Thanksgiving Day game apiece. The first two games continue to be split between CBS and Fox, with CBS getting the 12:30 p.m. (EST) Detroit "early" game, and Fox getting the 4:30 p.m. Dallas "late" game in even-numbered years, and Fox getting the "early" game and CBS the "late" game in odd-numbered years.

In 2014, a system known as "cross-flex" was introduced, in which the two networks bound by conference restrictions, CBS and Fox, could carry games from the other conference as part of their Sunday afternoon package,^[50][51] including the potential for CBS to broadcast an NFC vs. NFC game on Thanksgiving Day.^[52] From that year through 2016, CBS carried all-NFC contests every year on Thanksgiving Day, and in 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2023, no AFC teams played in any of the Thanksgiving Day games. To date, the NFL has never assigned an AFC road game to Fox on Thanksgiving Day.

Westwood One most recently held national radio broadcast rights to all three games, withCompass Media Networks sharing rights to the Cowboys contest. (Under league rules, only radio stations that carry at least 12 Cowboys games in a season are allowed to carry the Compass broadcast.) The participating teams also air the games on their localflagship stations and regional radio networks.

The Cowboys' Thanksgiving Day game has regularly been the most watched NFL regular season telecast each year, with the Lions' Thanksgiving Day game usually in the top five.^[53][54]

(Winning teams are denoted inbold; tie games areitalicized.)

• All three of the generally recognized iterations of the American Football League that played during this era (AFL I in 1926,AFL II in 1936 andAFL III in 1940) played Thanksgiving Day games, which are also listed as indicated.
• Non-NFL team games between league teams and non league teams counted in the 1920 standings. The All-Tonawanda Lumberjacks later joined the league as the Tonawanda Kardex, albeit only for one game.
• Thanksgiving Day fell on the final Thursday in November until 1938 and was held on two conflicting days from 1939 to 1941.

• No Thanksgiving Day games were held from 1941 to 1944 due to World War II.
• Thanksgiving Day games were played on the fourth Thursday in November from 1945 onward.
• TheAll-America Football Conference (AAFC) also played Thanksgiving Day games from 1946 to 1949.

• TheAmerican Football League (AFL) also played Thanksgiving Day games during this decade.
• TheDallas Cowboys started playing their traditional series in 1966.

• From1970 to2005, two afternoon games were played every Thanksgiving Day. They were held at Detroit and Dallas, with the Lions hosting the "early" game (12:30 p.m.EST) and the Cowboys holding the "late" game (initially at 4:00 p.m. EST, then moved to 4:15 p.m. EST in 1998). Detroit always hosted the "early" game because a 12:30 p.m. EST kick-off at Dallas would be 11:30 a.m. local time (CST), and the NFL avoided starting games before noon locally. Detroit's 12:30 p.m. "early" game kickoff was also thirty minutes earlier than the typical afternoon start time (1:00 p.m.). This helped reduce the chance of the two games overlapping.
• The two games initially rotated annually as intra-conference (NFC at NFC) and inter-conference (AFC at NFC) games. This was to satisfy the then-television contract balance between the network holding the rights to the "AFC package" and televised inter-conference games in which the visiting team is from the AFC (NBC from 1970 to 1997, andCBS since 1998) and the network with the "NFC package" (CBS from 1970 to 1993, andFox since 1994).
• CBS and NBC initially started their Thanksgiving Day pregame coverage thirty minutes before kickoff of their respective games, similar to their thirty-minute pregame coverage on Sunday afternoons. After Fox acquired NFL rights in 1994, and debuted the hour-longFox NFL Sunday pregame show, they also started their hour-long pregame coverage at 11:30 a.m. when televising the Detroit "early" game, but kept a thirty-minute pregame show when televising the Dallas "late" game. When CBS reacquired NFL rights in 1998, they still started theirThe NFL Today pregame coverage at 12:00 p.m. when televising the Detroit "early" game due to the fact that theirmorning parade coverage ran until noon.
• Dallas was replaced by theSt. Louis Cardinals as a host team in1975 and1977; Dallas and St. Louis faced each other atTexas Stadium in 1976. Because of theMissouri Turkey Day Game, the long-establishedKirkwood–Webster Groveshigh school football game that takes place on Thanksgiving in St. Louis, weak fan support in St. Louis, and generalnational preference of the Cowboys over the historically weaker Cardinals, the Cardinals' hosting of the Thanksgiving Day game was not popular. Dallas returned to hosting the game in 1978 and has hosted since. Likewise, theRams never played on Thanksgiving Day while in St. Louis, in part because of the Turkey Day Game and also because theMissouri State High School Activities Association held its state football championship games on Thanksgiving Day weekend atThe Dome at America's Center from 1996 to 2015.
• After the NFL division realignment in2002, no team from theAFC North could play a Thanksgiving Day game against the traditional hosts. This was becauseunder the current rotation, the Cowboys and the Lions each play AFC North teams in years that Fox is scheduled to broadcast its Thanksgiving Day game, requiring an NFC opponent. The last game to feature a team currently in the AFC North was the Lions' matchup against thePittsburgh Steelers in 1998. AFC North teams could play in the prime time game, as theBengals did in2010.

• Since2006, three contests have been scheduled for Thanksgiving Day. In addition to the traditional Detroit and Dallas home afternoon games, a third game is now played in primetime and televised byNFL Network (2006–2011) orNBC (since2012). The third game's start times have generally been the same as other primetime games, with pregame coverage beginning at 8:00 p.m. EST and kickoff at 8:20 p.m. EST. The primetime game is hosted by a different team (other than the Lions and Cowboys) each season.
• TheKansas City Chiefs hosted theDenver Broncos in the first "Thanksgiving Tripleheader" primetime game in 2006. This game also marked the first time that more than two games were played on Thanksgiving (as well as the first all-AFC holiday matchup) since theAFL–NFL merger in1970.
• The kickoff for the Detroit game continued to be at 12:30 p.m. EST. In2012, the Dallas game's kickoff time was moved from 4:15 p.m. EST to 4:30 p.m. EST, with the networks also moving their pregame coverage for that game to 4:00 p.m. EST. This shift provides further protection from possible game overlap, and allows additional time if the league elects to have a special halftime performance.
• The2014 season was the first in which CBS no longer had to air an inter-conference (AFC at NFC) Thanksgiving game. Instead, all three games featured NFC vs. NFC opponents for the first time. There were also all-NFC matchups in2015,2018 and2023.^[52][55]2017,2019 and2024 each featured five NFC teams and only one participating AFC team.
• From2012 to2015, and2017 to2019, the primetime game was held between division rivals. The originally scheduled2020 primetime divisional rivalry game between theBaltimore Ravens and thePittsburgh Steelers was postponed to Sunday, November 29 and eventually again to Wednesday, December 2 after multiple Ravens players and staff tested positive forCOVID-19 in the days before the game. This marked the first time no Thanksgiving Day prime time contest was held since 2005.^[16]

Of current NFL franchises. This includesAmerican Football League (AFL) games; however, it does not includeAll-America Football Conference (AAFC) games.

The last currently active franchise to have never played onThanksgiving through2024 is theJacksonville Jaguars, who joined the league in1995.

An idiosyncrasy in the NFL's current scheduling formula, which has been in effect in its basic form since 2002, effectively prevented teams from theAFC North from playing at the Lions or Cowboys on Thanksgiving. The formula had the AFC North playing at Dallas or at Detroit in years when other divisions were slated to fill the AFC slot on Thanksgiving. These teams, under the television contracts in place at the time, could only play in the third (night) game. With changes in the scheduling practices in 2014 ("cross-flexing"), the division is no longer barred from participating in one of the afternoon games. Even with cross-flexing available, an AFC North team has yet to play at Detroit or Dallas on Thanksgiving, and all of the AFC North's appearances have thus far been in the night game.

TheLos Angeles Rams have the longest active appearance drought of any team, with their last appearance coming in 1975.

Since 2010, several appearance droughts have ended.New Orleans,Cincinnati,Baltimore,Houston, andCarolina all played their first Thanksgiving games during this time frame.San Francisco likewise played their first Thanksgiving game since 1972 in 2011. The Los Angeles Chargers, who last played on the holiday in 1969 (while the team was still an AFL franchise in San Diego), appeared for the first time as an NFL member in 2017.^[56]

League teams only, since 1920.

*All-America Football Conference team.

Since 1989, informal and sometimes lightheartedMost outstanding player/MVP awards have been issued by the networks broadcasting the respective games. Running backEmmitt Smith holds the record for most Thanksgiving MVPs with five (1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2002), followed byTony Romo with four (2006, 2007, 2009, 2013). Among players not from Detroit or Dallas,Josh Allen,Drew Brees andBrett Favre each hold three. Voting on the respective awards is typically done informally by the announcing crew and/or producers, and criteria are loose. Noteworthy statistical accomplishments weigh heavily, and "group" awards are not uncommon. The announcement of the winner(s), and the presentation of the award is normally done immediately following the game, during post-game network coverage.

In1989,John Madden ofCBS awarded the first "Turkey Leg Award",^[57] for the game's most valuable player. Pursuant to its name, it was an actual cooked turkey leg, and players typically took a celebratory bite out of the leg for the cameras during post-game interviews.Reggie White of theEagles was the first recipient. The gesture was seen mostly as an amusing gimmick tied to the holiday and relating to Madden's famousmulti-legged turkeys andturduckens.^[58] Since then, however, the award has gained notoriety. Madden brought the award toFox in1994, and it continued through 2001.

Because of the loose and informal nature of the award, at times it has been awarded to multiple players. On one occasion (1994) it was given to players from both teams.

When John Madden left Fox after 2001, Fox introduced a new award starting in 2002, named theGalloping Gobbler. It was represented by a small silver figurine of a cartoonishturkey wearing a football helmet^[59] striking aHeisman-like pose.^[60] Much likeCleatus andDigger, the originalGalloping Gobbler trophy reflected Fox's irreverent mascots, and went through several iterations.^[59] Unimpressed by its tackiness,Emmitt Smith famously threw the 2002 award into a trash can.^[59]

In 2007, thekitschy statuette was replaced with abronze-colored statue of a nondescript turkey holding a football.^[60] In 2011, the trophies were discarded altogether and replaced by acommemorative plaque. Unlike the aforementioned "Turkey Leg Award", theGalloping Gobbler was normally awarded to only one player annually,^[61] however in 2016, co-winners were honored.^[62]

For 2017, theGalloping Gobbler was permanently retired, and replaced with the "Game Ball", a stylish, ornate football-shaped trophy, reminiscent of the tradition where game-used balls are typically awarded to players of the game. For 2019 and 2020 (coinciding with Fox's new partnership withWWE SmackDown), the "Game Ball" was replaced by aWWE Championship Belt. The "Game Ball" returned in 2021.

When the NFL returned to CBS in1998, they introduced their own award, the "All-Iron Award", which is, suitably enough, a small silveriron, a reference toPhil Simms' All-Iron team for toughness. The All-Iron winner also received a skillet of blackberrycobbler made by Simms' mother.

Through 2006, the trophy was only awarded to one player annually. Occasionally, it was issued as a "group award". In 2008, Simms stated it was "too close to call" and named four players to the trophy; he then gave the award to several people every year until 2013, after which he reverted to a single MVP in 2014.

Simms was removed from the broadcast booth for the 2017 season in favor ofTony Romo, who did not carry on the tradition. Instead, the "Chevrolet Player of the Game" award was extended to CBS' Thanksgiving Day game. As in CBS' regular Sunday afternoon NFL coverage as well as Fox's regular NFL coverage, Chevrolet will donate money in the player's name to theUnited Way if the game is played in Detroit, or theSalvation Army if the Thanksgiving Day game is played in Dallas.

For the 2019 season, CBS revived the Turkey Leg Award, awarding it toJosh Allen.^[63]

During the time whenNFL Network held the broadcast rights the prime time game, from 2007 to 2011 they gave out the "Pudding Pie Award" for MVPs. The award was an actual pie. In 2009, NFL Network gaveBrandon Marshall apumpkin pie rather than thechocolate pudding pie of the previous two years.

NBC, which carried Thanksgiving afternoon games through 1997, did not issue an MVP award during that time. NBC began broadcasting the Thanksgiving prime time game in 2012, at which point the MVP award was added. From 2012 to 2015, the NBC award was referred to as the "Madden Thanksgiving Player-of-the-Game", honoring John Madden (who announcedNBC games from 2006 to 2008).^[64][65] The award then became the "Sunday Night Football on Thanksgiving Night Player of the Game" in 2016. It is typically awarded to multiple players on the winning team.^[66] In the first few years, the award specifically went to players on both offense and defense, but in recent years, there have been no quotas for each phase. The winning players are presented with ceremonial game balls and, as a gesture to Madden, a cooked turkey leg.^[67] The 2021 award also featured a turkey leg statuette in addition to legs prepared and seasoned by local chef (andformer NBC star)Emeril Lagasse.

As part of the new "John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration" branding in 2022, the league announced that each network will now select a "Madden Player of the Game", with theNFL Foundation donating $10,000 in each winner's name to a youth or high school football program of their choice.^[2] Turkey legs continue to be awarded to the players of the game in homage to Madden,^[68] except for 2023 when Green Bay Packers quarterbackJordan Love was informed that there was none available.^[69]

In 2024, the NFL rebranded the award to the "Madden Thanksgiving MVP" and unveiled a new trophy to be awarded to the MVPs from each of the three games, consisting of agranitepylon with gold-colored engraving.^[70] The trophy includes an undated quote from John Madden: "There's no place I'd rather be today on Thanksgiving than right here, right now, at a football game."^[71] (The quote is a paraphrase of a famous quote originated byMarv Levy: "Where else would you rather be, than right here, right now?"^[72])

• 2007: Of the members of the Cowboys defense,Chris Canty,DeMarcus Ware,Terence Newman andGreg Ellis were particularly noted.
• 2017: No formal CBS award was given.Philip Rivers andKeenan Allen (both of theChargers) were interviewed during post-game coverage.
• 2018: No formal CBS award was given.Chase Daniel (Bears) was interviewed during post-game coverage.
• 2020: The CBS award was sent toDeshaun Watson's home instead of being handed out after the game.
• 2020: No NBC prime time game was held due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

• American football on Thanksgiving
• NFL on Christmas Day

• 2003 NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 0-7611-3148-5)(for game results through 2002)
• Detroit Lions2003,2004 and2005 game schedules(for game results 2003 to 2005)
• Dallas Cowboys2003,2004 and2005 game schedules(for game results 2003 to 2005)

• NFL.com Thanksgiving
• Thanksgiving Day Game Results, from thePro Football Hall of Fame
• American Football League Thanksgiving game boxscores

• NFL on Thanksgiving Day
• History of the NFL
• NFL competitions
• American Football League
• Thanksgiving (United States)
• Recurring sporting events established in 1920
• 1920 establishments in the United States
• November in sports

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