Lions, Eagles, and Seahawks All Win Easily on Thanksgiving

All three NFL games played on Thanksgiving Day featured teams positioning themselves for the postseason. Some looked like they’re ready for the drive to the playoffs, while others looked like they’ll have trouble getting there.

In Detroit, the Lions played their 75th Thanksgiving Day game, and won convincingly over the Chicago Bears 34-17. That pretty much killed off any hope for a Wild Card for the Bears (5-7), not that there was a realistic shot anyway. The Lions, on the other hand, are dueling the Green Bay Packers for the NFC North lead, and improved to 8-4. The Packers are 8-3 and host New England on Sunday. The Lions and Packers will play in Green Bay on December 28th in their last regular season game, and that one could decide the division champion.

In Dallas, the Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles entered their contest tied for 1st in the NFC East at 8-3. We figured with first place on the line, and a historically good record in Thanksgiving Day games, the Cowboys would win this one. Instead, the Eagles blew them out, behind QB Mark Sanchez, who had an un Sanchez like performance (20 for 29, 217 yards, one TD, no interceptions). RB LeSean McCoy, who is probably tired of hearing about how great the Cowboys’ DeMarco Murray is, rushed for 159 yards in 25 attempts while Murray was held to 73 yards on 20 carries. The Cowboys started the season 6-1 but may have peaked too soon; they’re 3-2 in their last five games. These two will play in Philadelphia on December 14th.

In San Francisco, the Seattle Seahawks played the 49ers, with both teams at 7-4 and in second place in the NFC West behind Arizona. On October 19th, the Seahawks were 3-3 and everyone was trying to figure out what was wrong with last season’s dominant team. It looks like whatever the problems were, they’ve worked themselves out as Seattle beat the 49ers 19-3, the same score they beat Arizona by last week. San Francisco CEO Jed York apologized to the fans via Twitter, saying the performance “wasn’t acceptable.” The 49ers are facing the possibility of not making the playoffs. After next weekend’s game against the Raiders, the 49ers have some tough opponents to close out the regular season. They’ll be at Seattle, then will play San Diego and Arizona at home.