NFL Schedule 2020: What are the Thanksgiving Day games?
By Josh Hill
Thanksgiving Day football is a tradition that football fans have been gorging themselves on for years, but what is the main course this year?
Football is as much a part of Thanksgiving Day as turkey and cranberries are. As weird as it is to not have live sports right now, it’ll be even weirder if we all celebrate Thanksgiving without football.
The NFL is not banking on that happening. The league released its schedule on Thursday for the 2020 season, which means finding out which teams will be playing on the unofficial football holiday.
Note: The schedule will be released on Thursday at 6:30pm CT. Check back then for the official games.
Game 1: Houston Texans at Detroit Lions — 12:30pm ET on FOX
Game 2: Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys — 4:30pm ET on CBS
Game 3: Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers — 8:20pm ET on NBC
Historically the Lions and Cowboys have hosted Thanksgiving Day games dating back to 1978. It wasn’t until 2006 that a third game was added to the docket, a primetime slot free of a monopoly like the two earlier windows dedicated to Detroit and Dallas. Rivalry games are usually reserved for that third window, but it’s not specifically dedicated to a single team. The closest we’ve come to one team owing the primetime slot is the Saints and Falcons playing in that window each of the last two seasons.
Interestingly, prior to the 2006 Thanksgiving expansion, no AFC North teams had played on Thanksgiving Day since the NFL realigned its divisions back in 2002. The last time a team that now plays in the AFC North was featured on Thanksgiving Day was back in 1998, when the Pittsburgh Steelers were involved with the infamous overtime coin toss controversy.
Since then, the AFC North has been featured 4 times, with the Ravens-Steelers matchup being a rematch of the infamous Mike Tomlin trip game — proving the Steelers can’t play on Thanksgiving without a little controversy.
The last decade was not kind to either the Cowboys or Lions, who both went 4-6 on Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, Detroit could be argued as being the more successful of the two teams, rattling off four straight wins from 2013 to 2016. The Cowboys, on the other hand, have sustained mediocrity for most of the decade, whereas the Lions ebbs and flows were more dramatic.
A new decade could mean new success for the mainstays of Thanksgiving Day football, and 2020 is looking like it’ll be just as tasty as the years past.