Thanksgiving Day brings us the usual trio of NFL games, with all three having postseason implications and two of them involving backup quarterbacks thrust into starting roles by injury. Here’s what you need to know.
Bears at Lions
Time: 12:30 p.m. Eastern.
TV: CBS.
Spread (as of Thursday morning): Chicago -3.
The Bears have had about as short a week of preparation as you can get in the NFL: They were flexed into last Sunday night’s game against the Vikings and now get the early time slot Thursday.
Teams facing similar Sunday night-Thanksgiving afternoon turnarounds have not fared all that well:
In 2017, the Cowboys followed a 37-9 loss at home to the Eagles on Sunday night with a 28-6 loss to the Chargers at home on Thanksgiving afternoon.
In 2016, the Redskins followed a 42-24 home win over the Packers on Sunday night with a 31-26 loss at the Cowboys on Thanksgiving afternoon.
In 2014, the Cowboys followed a 31-28 win at the Giants on Sunday night with a 33-10 home loss to the Eagles on Thanksgiving afternoon.
It’s an especially vexing situation for the Bears considering that quarterback Mitchell Trubisky injured his right shoulder against Minnesota and will not play. In his place, Chase Daniel will make the third start of his nine-season career, and the first since 2014. Even Daniel admitted, “Jeez, that was a long time ago.” But don’t fret too much over his career. He’s made more than $28 million as a backup (the best job in sports).
[Five keys to the Redskins-Cowboys game]
Redskins at Cowboys
Time: 4:30 p.m. Eastern.
TV: Fox.
Spread (as of Thursday morning): Dallas -7.
Colt McCoy gets the call at quarterback for the Redskins after Alex Smith’s gruesome leg injury Sunday against the Texans, and he has a short week to get up to speed. McCoy is just 7-18 as a starter, though 21 of those games came with the Browns in 2010 and 2011, his first two NFL seasons (he went 1-3 as a starter for the Redskins in 2014, with the one win coming in Dallas).
McCoy couldn’t be much worse in the long-passing-play department than his predecessor: With Smith under center, the Redskins had just four passing plays that went for at least 40 yards this season, and none since Week 4 against the Saints. The Cowboys have allowed only four such passing plays this season (only three teams have allowed fewer) and have given up a league-low 13 passing touchdowns (tied with the Cardinals and Vikings). Washington also converted only 9 of 54 attempts on third-and-nine or longer with Smith at quarterback.
The Cowboys seem to have righted the ship with two straight wins, perhaps ending (for now) any talk about Coach Jason Garrett’s future with the team. They would move into a first-place NFC East tie with the Redskins with a victory, which also would even the season series at one game apiece. Like Washington, Dallas isn’t all that explosive in the passing department: It, too, has just four passing plays of at least 40 yards. But the Cowboys have started to lean more on running back Ezekiel Elliott, and it’s paid off. He has 273 rushing yards and two scores while also catching 15 passes out of the backfield over the past two games.
Falcons at Saints
Time: 8:20 p.m. Eastern
TV: NBC.
Spread (as of Thursday morning): New Orleans -12.5.
The Chiefs and Rams have been getting all the attention because of their touchdown-laden shootout on Monday night, but are enough people talking about just how silly the Saints have gotten? They haven’t lost since a season-opening defeat to the Bucs (back when the Bucs were actually a thing and not the mess they currently are) and have won their past four games by an average of 24.5 points — one of them a 10-point victory over the aforementioned Rams.
New Orleans already has a six-point overtime win over Atlanta under its belt, and that one came without running back Mark Ingram, who was serving a season-opening four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs. Ingram has rushed for at least 100 yards in consecutive games and now he and Alvin Kamara get a Falcons defense that has allowed 13 rushing touchdowns (only the Bucs and Browns have allowed more) and 11 rushing plays of at least 20 yards (only the Jets, Cardinals and Dolphins have allowed more).
source:https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/11/22/nfl-thanksgiving-day-tv-schedule/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.13c9a46ba9c7
