Football on Thanksgiving has become one of America's most important pastimes in the last half-century. The NFL decided to take advantage of this a few years ago by adding a third game to the slate. However this game was shown on the all too rarely accessible NFL Network. Luckily for the average fan, this year the night game will be shown on NBC. With three games being shown on network TV, the entire day could come to be dominated by football. Although I usually ignore the Thursday game when making my picks column, the Thanksgiving slate seemed too important to ignore. So here we go with my random guesses of what will go down on Turkey Day.
Houston over Detroit (+3)- Houston barely escaped with a win over the lowly Jaguars last Sunday. While some may view this in a negative light, there are actually some positives to be taken. Every team will eventually have a game where they come out flat or just not as well as their opponent. It says a lot that they were able to play so well late and overcome a late two-touchdown deficit. The debaccle against Jacksonville may also serve as a wake-up call. Meanwhile the Lions are plain, ho-hum, average. I couldn't begin to explain the strange lack of touchdowns coming from Stafford and Johnson but I can't imagine they break out against the Texans. Expect a big win here by the Texans to move to 10-1.
Washington over Dallas (-3.5)- As my hero and mentor Bill Simmons pointed out on monday, home teams have been getting killed against the spread all year. This leads me to believe the 3-point advantage given to home teams every week should be ignored for the time being. In addition, should the Cowboys be giving points to anyone right now? They just pulled out a lucky win over the Browns. They can't block, they can't run the ball, they make a ton of mistakes on offense and they don't force any turnovers. The Redskins aren't perfect by any means but there's no way the Cowboys should be favored by this much against anyone. I'm expecting to see RGIII give the fine people of the D.C./Maryland/Virginia/Bandwagon areas of America quite the Thanksgiving.
New England over New York (+6.5)- It seems as though it's that time of year again. It's that time of year where the Patriots go on a tear and don't lose again for the rest of the regular season. The Pats have had major win streaks to finish the season seven of the past nine years. On the other hand, the Jets' win over St. Louis wasn't enough to convince anyone that they're not a below-average team with a hapless offense. This won't be an easy one for the Pats, the Jets always play them tough and this is their entire season on the line. However, I think Brady and Co. proved last week that they're able to easily dispose of any pretenders.
There you have it...have a lovely Thanksgiving, enjoy the games and Stay Hungry My Friends.
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