http://otr.blastmagazine.com/2009/11/26/thanksgiving-day-breakdown/
Thanksgiving Day Breakdown
By
Ryan Cloutier
today
Thanksgiving Day is a great day for football games. Everyone is off and you often have plenty of food available; what else could be better?
The fatal flaw in the system is that the games, at least for the last couple years, feature teams that aren’t very good. This is the case in two games this year: firstly we have the Packers at Detroit.
Detroit has lost their last five Thanksgiving Day games since beating the Packers in 2003. First overall pick and quarterback for the Lions Matt Stafford was injured last week with a dislocated just before throwing right-handed to win the game against the Browns. Stafford won the game and set a record as the first rookie QB to throw for five touchdowns.
Without Stafford who is listed as doubtful, and Calvin Johnson who is listed as questionable, the Lions chances are slim. Neither of the players practiced Tuesday. Last time Detroit faced Green Bay without Stafford or Johnson was last month and Detroit lost 26-0. You can pretty much chalk this one up for the Packers. This win will move them to 7-4.
Next is Raiders at Dallas.
I can’t see this game being very good in all honesty. With Asomugha at Corner for the Raiders and Romo with a sore back I can’t imagine a very pass heavy offense form Dallas. I’d say the majority game will be Marion
Barber churning away at 5 yards-per-carry with a heavy helping of Felix Jones thrown in. The Raiders offensive performance will be lackluster as usual.
I say Cowboys take it moving them to 8-3.
The one shining light in what may be a day of football blowouts will probably be watching the Giants play the Broncos at Mile High. Both teams started out strong and have recently been troubled, either outright losing or coming very, very close. The Broncos have been playing decent pass D but with the amount of receivers Eli Manning has to throw to and TE Kevin Boss I don’t think the Broncos will be able to keep the lid on.
The Broncos’ offense has also only managed an abysmal 9.25 points-per-game over their last 4 games. That being said, I don’t feel confident with Brandon Jacobs spending the whole game in the backfield especially at Mile High, Ahmad Bradshaw is expected to be out with a foot injury.
All in all this will be the game of the day to watch. I’d go with too close to call, If I had to call it: Giants, moving them to 7-4.