Happy Thanksgiving and happy Hannukah as well to all our readers! I’m getting off to a late start this morning, but I plan to make up for it in the second half by blitzing the table and passing the turkey. That sounds a bit like the Pittsburgh Steelers’ season this year, too, and they join in the Thanksgiving Day tradition of the NFL with a game against their division rivals, the Baltimore Ravens. They have the 8:30 pm (ET) late game on NBC today, long after the tryptophan does its work on the rest of us. Baltimore plays tough at home, but the Steelers have won three in a row and five of their last seven. Steelers stun the Ravens tonight, 28-23.
The early game comes at 12:30 this morning on Fox, as the Packers meet the Lions in Detroit. Aaron Rodgers is still out, and even though Matt Flynn gave the team a huge lift in the second half of last week’s tie with the Minnesota Vikings, the Lions are not going to be as easy to match up against. The Pack will give it a good try — expect more fireworks from Flynn — but the Lions will be too much for them. Detroit 31-24 over Green Bay.
The afternoon game (4:30 pm, CBS) pits the Oakland Raiders on the road against the Cowboys. Oakland has been improving, but so has Dallas, and Oakland is all but useless on the road. The line has the Cowboys up by 10, but coming off that gritty win in New York last week, I think the Cowboys might do better than that — say, 34-17.
Enjoy the holiday, and let’s hope none of these games are turkeys.
Update: Matt Flynn, not Mike. Thanks to Steve Eggleston for the correction.
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