There are three things that I always think about when it comes to Thanksgiving Day.  1) Spending time with family, 2) Eating way too much turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberries, and pie, and 3) Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys football.  While the NFL Network will for the second straight year kick of their Drive for the Playoffs on Thanksgiving Night, they can't duplicate the tradition that surrounds football in Dallas and Detroit on Thanksgiving.  There is something special about Dallas and Detroit playing football that day.  Smith and Sanders.  Irvin and Moore.  Aikman and Harrington.  Okay, now I'm reaching.  While Detroit has not been very good in recent years, there still have been a lot of great memories over the years, even if the teams involved haven't always been great.

The Lions have hosted an NFL contest year since 1934, with the exception of 1939 to 1944 due to World War II. The Dallas Cowboys have hosted an NFL contest every year since 1966, with the exception of 1975 and 1977, when the St. Louis Cardinals hosted a game instead.  Have to wonder why that would have stopped.  The Lions and Cardinals for the whole football viewing nation to adore.  That is a little too much. 

This year, we will probably see two blowouts and one interesting game.  Unless the Colts or Cowboys do something amazing, I can't see them allowing the Atlanta Falcons and New York Jets to give them much o####ame.  The Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers has the opportunity to be a classic divisional contest.   It also renews a traditional rivalry from the 1950s and 1960s.

Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot of debate on the blog.  I would like to thank everyone that has been contributing to the discussion.  We have had some great debates about the Patriots and Colts, whether Tom Brady is the MVP, whether Brett Favre is playing his best football in a decade, and countless other topics.  There has been passionate debate by many knowledgeable fans. 

This week with many people spending time with family and friends, I expect it to be a light week on the blog.  I wanted to write about something a little less controversial.  Something that won't get the blood boiling.  We'll save that for after Thanksgiving, which signifies the beginning playoff run. 

What I thought I would do is look at 5 of the most memorable Thanksgiving Day contest.  While I like to think of myself as a very knowledgeable NFL fan, there isn't any way I have the time or energy to sift through every game, score, and standing to find out which is the best Thanksgiving Day Game.  Furthermore, I don't think people would really be that interested.  If you are that committed to ranking All-Time Turkey Day Contest, you are more committed to the NFL than I. 

These are the 5 most memorable games in chronological order that I could think of over the 70 some years of Thanksgiving Day NFL action.

1) November 22, 1962 Green Bay (10-0) at Detroit Lions (8-2) - Arguably one of the most significant regular season games in NFL History.  The Packers were the defending champions and had raced out of the gates to a 10-0 start.  They finished the season outscoring their opponents 415-148, or by 19.1 ppg.  The Lions were their closest challenger, having only 2 losses on the season.  The Lions deemed the game as "The Grudge Match" because they had lost an extremely close game earlier in the season at Lambeau Field, 9-7.  Bart Starr was sacked an amazing 11 times during the game that saw Detroit build a 26-0 lead through three quarters.  Green Bay scored a couple meaningless touchdowns, but lost by a final of 26-14.   It would be the only blemish on Green Bay's 1962 campaign.  They went on to beat the NY Giants 16-7 in the NFL Championship Game.  Detroit finished the season 11-3, but did not make the playoffs, as there was only an NFL Championship Game in those years.  Think the 07 New England Patriots trailing the 07 Pittsburgh Steelers 26-0 through 3 quarters.  That was the magnitude of this contest.  

2) November 23, 1989 Philadelphia Eagles (7-4) at Dallas Cowboys (1-10) - This game is memorable for what happened off the field, not on it.  Philadelphia was in the Buddy Ryan era and Dallas had a young first year coach in Jimmy Johnson.  The Walker trade would not pay dividends until the 1990 draft.  The Eagles won as expected, 27-0.  However, after the game John Madden presented Reggie White with the Turkey Leg as the games Most Outstanding Player.  The award followed Madden from CBS to Fox and became a fixture until 2002, when Madden left Fox to join ABC which did not carry Thanksgiving Football.  The awards have since lost their luster, but the Galloping Gobbler Award and All Iron Award have their roots in this memorable game. 

3) November 25, 1993 Miami (8-2) at Dallas (7-3) - Leon Lett's second memorable moment.  After having been stripped by Don Beebe in the Super Bowl the year before while prematurely celebrating a touchdown, Leon Lett had this memorable blunder.  The Cowboys blocked a field goal preserving a 14-13 victory.  A victory until Lett inexplicitly jumped on the ball, the Dolphins recovered, and had an unexpected shot at redemption.  The Dolphins made the kick the second time around and escaped with a 16-14 victory.  What made the game even more interesting is that the 9-2 Dolphins would not win another game that season and missed the playoffs.  The Cowboys would not lose another game and would go on to capture their second straight Super Bowl in the Jimmy Johnson era. 

4) November 26, 1998 Pittsburgh Steelers (7-4) - at Detroit Lions (4-7) - It's Heads.  It's Tails.  Wait, what did you say?  Another game that is famous for reasons other than the play on the field.  Teams always used to call the coin while it was being flipped in the air.  After Jerome Bettis and the official could not get on the same page, the ball was unjustly given to Detroit.  Detroit won the game 19-16.  Neither team would win another game that season.  The bizarre overtime result led to a rule change in the offseason requiring the player to make the call prior to the coin being flipped. 

5) November 26, 1998 Minnesota Vikings (10-1) - at Dallas Cowboys (8-3) - How can a player make a name for himself with 3 catches?  When those catches go for 163 yards and 3 touchdowns it doesn't take long.  Randy Moss was a rookie.  Moss's breakout game had come on Monday Night against the Packers back in Week 5 with 5 catches for 190 yards and 2 touchdowns.   This was supposed to be the showdown of the millennium, Prime Time vs. Randy Moss.  Prime Time didn't play, Randy was Randy, and the rest was history.  The Vikings won 46-36.  The game started a 4 game stretch where the Vikings had a scoring average of 45.5 points per game.  The Vikings would finish the season 15-1, but would lose the title game to Atlanta, 30-27 in Overtime.  While the Cowboys went on to win the division at 10-6, they would lose at home to the Cardinals in the first round of the playoffs. 

So what is your favorite Thanksgiving Day Game?  Is there any game that sticks out in your mind over the years?   Where will you be watching your Holiday Football?  I probably won't get to answer a lot of these over the holidays, but still let me and the rest of the board know your thoughts.  Where ever you are going to spend the holidays, have a Happy Thanksgiving.