This year’s Thanksgiving Day games featured the typical 3-game slate of a 12:30 PM game, a 4:30 PM game, and a night game at 8:20 PM. The Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys who always play on Thanksgiving sought revenge after suffering losses from last year’s holiday. This year’s matchups included the Buffalo Bills vs the Detroit Lions, The New York Giants vs The Dallas Cowboys, and The New England Patriots against the Minnesota Vikings. Let’s start with the first game of the three, Bills vs Lions. 

Bills vs Lions

The Bills came in as 9.5-point favorites to win this game but this game ended in only a 3-point victory for the Bills. This might have been surprising for most since the Bills are a Super Bowl favorite this year and the Lions are one of the worst teams in the league. The Lions had a chance to upset the Bills but a costly missed field goal from kicker Michael Badgley and a sack for a safety from quarterback Jared Goff ended up being the deciding factors. Bills kicker Tyler Bass ended up kicking the game-winning field goal with 2 seconds left to lift the Bills to a 28-25 victory.

Giants vs Cowboys

Next up we have the rivalry game of the day, which featured the Giants and Cowboys. Coming in as 10-point favorites, the Cowboys looked to leap ahead of the Giants in the NFC East standings. Dak Prescott, quarterback for the Cowboys, didn’t get going until later in the game. He threw two interceptions early and the game looked in jeopardy until the Cowboys started to get into a rhythm. Dallas receiver Ceedee Lamb was the main focal point of the Cowboy’s offense, setting up Dallas for success. The Cowboy’s defense also came together to hold one of the league’s best running backs, Saquon Barkley, to only 39 rushing yards in the game. The Giants scored late but it wasn’t enough and the Cowboys finished off the Giants 28-20.

Patriots vs Vikings

Finally, we have the night game which featured the Patriots vs the Vikings. The Vikings were only 2.5-point favorites against New England, so this game was projected to be a thriller. The game lived up to the hype, displaying many highlight plays between the two teams. It was the Viking’s lucky day because they seemed to have everything go their way. From a kick return touchdown, to a running into the punter penalty called on the Patriots, then to a touchdown from Patriots tight end Hunter Henry called back, the Vikings ended up on top in this game defeating the Patriots 33-26. This was a major bounce-back game for the Vikings losing their previous game 40-3 against Dallas.