Thursday football isn't a novelty anymore, but there's still something special about these Thanksgiving Day games. (We could probably do without the night games.) Watching them in a family setting takes me back to past Thanksgivings and past football classics on that day, including Leon Lett, Jerome Bettis and (dating myself) Walter Stanley. Thanksgiving football is great, even when it's bad.
Bears 16, Lions 14. Saw an interesting back and forth online about whether we should feel bad for Dan Campbell or not. I feel bad for him, but when coaching mishaps contribute heavily to losses in close games, I can see the other side too. So the Lions lost this one, of course, allowing the Bears to march the field for the winning field goal. And it was less great plays by the Bears than bad ones by Detroit, incredibly taking a crucial penalty for calling back to back timeouts (when timeouts were precious, since the Bears were going to score) and then defending the end zone rather than the first-down line in the final minute, when a touchdown would actually have been better for the Lions, since they'd have gotten the ball back. Ugly, sad, whatever you want to call it. I think that might have been their best chance to win this year.
As for the game itself from a fantasy perspective, the big story was D'Andre Swift leaving early with a shoulder injury. He was definitely the guy most started in fantasy leagues, and he caught 3 passes early on -- looked like he was probably going to catch about a dozen balls. Figure he'd have made a difference in a game the Lions lost on the final play. And a killer for fantasy teams, since at least if a guy is ruled out beforehand you can replace with. With Swift you just had to take your 3.9 points or whatever and hope someone else picked you up.
Nice game for Jared Goff. Made good throws and decisions. Unlikely anyone guessed right on which receivers would benefit (Josh Reynolds last caught a pass in Week 7), and I'm not sure Reynolds will be the guy next week. Darnell Mooney and Cole Kmet delivered nice PPR numbers for those who started them, even though the Bears had to dust off Jimmy Graham for a touchdown that would have been nice going to Kmet. Ugly game, but arguably just the 2nd-ugliest of the day, so there's that.
Raiders 36, Cowboys 33. Gonna talk about the end first, because it's really bothering me how the quarterback scramble has been completely excised from the Cowboys offense. I get that they don't want Dak Prescott to get hurt again, and maybe he himself doesn't have the confidence running it that he used to. But seeing this team continually give Dak 7-step drops on 3rd and 3 and requiring him to make a perfect, precise throw rather than occasionally letting/having him scramble makes me want to pull my own eyes out. In overtime, he absolutely could have picked up the 3rd and 3 with his legs. It was one of several such plays that he could have picked up by running it. But those plays are gone. In his last four he's carried the ball 5 times. If you're worried about Dak's health, why was he still playing midway through the fourth quarter against Denver down 30-0? Maddening, and a factor in yesterday's loss. Suddenly the NFC East champ isn't a foregone conclusion.
With the game, you got great points from most everyone you could have started. Gallup and Wilson over 100 yards, Schultz and Pollard (on a kick return) scoring, some PPR value from Elliott. Renfrow, Jacobs, Carr, DeSean Jackson (a nice cheap selection in FanDuel, paid off). Obviously the exception was Darren Waller, who like Swift left early due to injury, and like Swift was one of the few automatic starts. Unlucky.
Josh Jacobs ran well throughout this game. Got you enough points to be happy, although there were a couple of painful moments. One was when the Raiders brought in Marcus Mariota to run in a touchdown. Cruel and unusual. The second was when Jacobs ran a crossing route and Carr hit him in the hands with a pass that might well have gone for a 70-yard touchdown, and Jacobs dropped it. Great play, great throw, clang. But I don't want to be greedy. It was a good to say to start Jacobs and Prescott. Just the wistfulness of knowing they could have done more.
A word about poor Anthony Brown, flagged for pass interference on basically every pass play, including the game loser. Brown had a lousy day and needs to get his head around on those balls; just even pretend to be looking for the ball, and maybe some of those flags don't get thrown. But it's also fair to say that officiating sucked all game and all day. Perhaps officials with seniority get to take Thanksgiving off to be with their families, so we get the more easily influenced or deceived ones out there throwing flags all over the field if the wind blows the wrong way on a player. I kind of felt bad for the guy, but I also feel bad about the state of officiating in the NFL. You can't watch a game without seeing many, many calls you think/wish had been called more consistently all along.
Bills 31, Saints 6. OK, so let's get Tony Jones out of the way quickly. I picked him up in a league, and started him in a flex spot (over Tyler Conklin, who will probably equal Jones' 2.7 points with his first reception on Sunday). Didn't work out. But honestly, if you told me today that Jones would start, get three-quarters of the team's running back carries and two-thirds of the rushing yards, I'd probably start the guy again. I think it was worth the risk. The problem was that New Orleans fell way behind, used Ty Montgomery in all passing situations, and oh yeah couldn't run their way out of a paper bag. Some of those things were predictable, but starting running backs aren't always easy to come by these days. Josh Jacobs didn't have a great matchup, but early on he got you a short touchdown when there was a pass interference in the end zone, and that could have happened for Jones. So if you started him, hey, sorry. I would have felt worse if the team had given Dwayne Washington a bunch of carries instead. The choice of starting Jones didn't pan out, but I'd do it again.
I'm not sure Mark Ingram would have fared much better. The Bills clearly came into this game with no respect whatsoever for the passing ability of Trevor Siemian: stuff the run, make that nobody beat us with some passes downfield (or midfield, or backfield, whatever). He couldn't do it. Taysom Hill might have been an interesting choice to mix in for a play or two, but Hill didn't step on the field. Too busy counting his money on the $40 million (up to $95 million, whatever) extension he signed early in the week. I don't get it. Hill practiced fully this week. He was listed on the practice report with a foot injury, but it didn't limit him and he was not listed on the final report. So what gives? What exactly are the Saints paying him for if not to contribute to games when all of their offensive players are on the shelf? Mysteries.
Great game for Josh Allen, Dawson Knox, Stefon Diggs. If you started any of them, and you should have, you're off to a nice start to the week. Should be a nice confidence boost for Buffalo with those tough Patriots games coming up. It's a Singletary-Matt Breida backfield now, and Breida looks like the preferred choice; they're getting his speed on the field, making one wonder why they waited 10 weeks to do so.
But a crummy game, as were two of the three yesterday. Still love Thanksgiving football. Even when it's bad, it's pretty good.