Ed: It’s Thanksgiving Day, which means that Americans will gather around the dinner table to share a feast, invoke God’s blessing, and get into arguments. Some want to manipulate the latter tradition into political food fights, but here at Hot Air’s we’re traditionalists. We’d prefer that you fight over the football games today.

Jazz: I hope you’re all having at least as much fun, feasting and family interaction as we plan on. I was following the #MyRepublicanUncle thread on Twitter this week which has provided much amusement, but in our case I actually am the Republican Uncle. My in-laws are also conservatives so any of the young folks who want to talk about socialism will have a tough sled to pull. Anyway, the one thing that still binds us all together is football.

Ed: This is a holiday rather than part of our weekly predictions, so we won’t mention (5-2 last week) season records (53-20) today.  Let’s just hope that we get three sweet potatoes for games today, and leave the turkeys on the dining room tables.

Jazz: I agree with Ed. This is no time for partisanship on such a wonderful holiday. A lesser man might mention his first 6-1 week of the season (still a sad 33-40) and the first session of defeating Ed, but I’m taking the high road and not bringing it up. Surely a cornucopia of winning predictions is coming my way today.

Ed: Here are my picks for the day:

• Eagles at Lions (12:30 pm ET, FOX): It’s tempting to take the Lions at home, and they’ve played better of late. However, the Eagles score more 4.4 points per game and give up 4.5 fewer points per game. I’ll pick Philly in an upset, 24-20.
• Panthers at Cowboys (4:30 pm, CBS): Tony Romo’s back, along with Dez Bryant, and the Cowboys managed to get past a struggling Miami Dolphins team on the road. Can they beat an undefeated powerhouse like the Panthers at home? The betting line says yes, but …. it seems questionable at best. The 4th-ranked Carolina defense will make the difference in a 21-17 nailbiter win for the Panthers.
• Bears at Packers (8:30 pm, NBC): Last week, after the Pack lost its third straight game and Da Bears started looking competitive again, I might have given some thought to an upset. The Pack fixed most of its problems and won impressively in Minnesota, and Chicago lost to a backup QB at home. So, don’t expect an upset today. The Pack should rack up another win and keep its slim advantage in the NFC North, 27-17.

Jazz: 

• Eagles at Lions (12:30 pm ET, FOX): The Lions seem to be in the mood to just tick everyone off this season and I see no reason for them to stop now. The Eagles have been tough on the road, it’s true, but the Lions’ fans have been starting to pick up some juice. I’ll go with the home field advantage and take the Vegas line. Detroit in a close one… possibly in overtime, 27-24.
• Panthers at Cowboys (4:30 pm, CBS): The Panthers had a great run with a long string of W’s, but I’ve been saying from the beginning that it was vaporware. The Boys are back in town (80’s reference totally intended) and they’ll carry the day strongly sending the Panthers to their next loss, 34-17.
• Bears at Packers (8:30 pm, NBC):The late game will take place when we’re all passing out from turkey overload and this game won’t be any reason to try to stay awake late. The Pack is back and Green Bay will win it 30-16.