Thanksgiving Football 2021
What’s better than absolutely stuffing your face with food while watching football all day? Nothing. Every year, Thanksgiving is filled with food, family, and football. Nothing else compares.
This Thanksgiving, the games did not disappoint. With the Bears taking down the Lions, the Raiders winning a shootout in Dallas, and the Bills having a statement win on Primetime, Thanksgiving football was as good as any this year.
Image from: NFL.com
The Bears started out with a 16-14 win in Detroit. Coming into this game the Bears were on a 5 game losing streak and the Lions still were without a win. Detroit took a 7-0 lead during the first quarter thanks to a touchdown pass from Jared Goff to Josh Reynolds. After a Cairo Santos field goal in the second quarter, the Bears were finally on the board. The Lions then drove down the field, before being plagued with penalties and being forced to punt. The Bears instantly capitalized with a touchdown strike of 17 yards from Andy Dalton to Jimmy Graham. After a turnover from each team, Cairo Santos came out and hit another field goal before the half to further the lead 13-7, Chicago. With 1:46 left in the third quarter, Goff had his second touchdown of the day, this time hitting tight end TJ Hockenson, putting the Lions up 14-13. The teams exchanged punts in the 4th quarter before setting up Santos for his game winning field goal, putting the Bears up 16-14 and ended the Bears 5 game losing streak.
Image from: wind.com
The second game of the day didn’t disappoint. After a Dallas 3 and out to start the game, the Raiders quarterback Derek Carr hit veteran wide receiver DeSean Jackson for a 56 yard touchdown that quickly gave them the lead. Dallas responded with a touchdown of their own, a 10 yard pass from Prescott to Sean McKeon. 7-6 Raiders lead. The teams exchanged punts, and eventually Josh Jacobs scored on a 1 yard run to boost their lead as well as a field goal from Carlson, 17-6 Vegas. Dallas marched down the field and eventually scored on a 1 yard run from Zeke Elliott with 25 seconds left, 17-13 Vegas at the half.
The second half started with two punts before Marcus Mariota ran the ball 3 yards for the Raiders score. 24-13 Vegas. Dallas IMMEDIATELY responded with a 100 yard kickoff return thanks to Tony Pollard. 24-19 Vegas. The teams hit a couple field goals which eventually lead to the score being 30-22 Vegas. After a Raiders punt, Prescott hit tight end Dalton Schultz for 32 yards for a touchdown, and then again for the 2 point conversion. 30-30 all tied up. The Raiders drove down the field and Carlson hit a clutch kick to take the lead with under 2 minutes left, 33-30 Raiders. Cowboys did the same and Greg Zuerlein hit a field goal tying the game up with 19 seconds left. Overtime.
The Cowboys received the kick and went 3 and out - and Vegas took advantage of that. Vegas went 67 yards and had the opportunity to win the game. First kick went up and was good, but there was a penalty on Vegas so they re-kicked, 5 yards back. The second kick never went up thanks to another penalty, this time on Dallas, 5 yards up. The third kick was no good but thanks to ANOTHER penalty it didn’t count. 5 yards up again. And finally, on the 4th kick, Daniel Carlson hit a clutch field goal to give the Raiders the win 33-30.
Image from: LATimes.com
The last game of the night was a bit lopsided. The Buffalo Bills were coming off of a loss from Indianapolis, while the New Orleans Saints were coming off of 3 straight losses. On their first drive of the day, The Bills went 65 yards down the field and scored thanks to a Josh Allen pass to tight end Dawson Knox. For the rest of the half, the Saints defense did what they needed to do, only allowing a field goal and forcing 2 interceptions against Josh Allen and the dynamic Bills offense. Buffalo was up 10-0 at the half. The Bills then scored on their first 2 drives of the half, first from a disgusting route from star wide receiver Stefan Diggs, then from Dawson Knox again, for his second touchdown of the game. The Saints then scored for the first time in the 4th quarter from a Trevor Siemian touchdown to Nick Vannett. 24-6 Buffalo. With the game pretty much over, the Bills went on to score another touchdown, this time a 23 yard pass from Josh Allen to Matt Breida. The Bills went on to win the game 31-6 on Thursday night.
Image from: thestar.com