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Factoid

Home Cooking?

Road teams have feasted on Thanksgiving lately

I'm old enough to remember when people used to complain about the advantage the Lions and Cowboys got from playing on Thanksgiving each year. As recently as the 90s, those teams went a combined 14-6 on Thanksgiving. Back then there weren't Thursday night games each week, so it was just a once-a-year occurrence.

Lately, if the Lions and Cowboys are getting any advantage from hosting these Thanksgiving games, it hasn't been apparent in the results.

Detroit, believe it or not, has lost seven straight Thanksgiving Day games. Dallas has gone just 4-6 in its last 10. The Lions have been lousy in a lot of those years, but the Cowboys have typically been a playoff team. And the Lions have been better lately. But visitors have been going into their stadiums and feasting on the freakish turkey legs handed out by the announcing teams.

Here are the results from the last 10 Thanksgivings, with the winning team in bold. Combined, Detroit and Dallas are just 7-13 the last 10 years. They've won 2 of the last 10 games.

THANKSGIVING DAY RESULTS, 2014-2023
YearVisitorPtsHomePts
2014Chicago Bears17Detroit Lions34
2014Philadelphia Eagles33Dallas Cowboys10
2015Philadelphia Eagles14Detroit Lions45
2015Carolina Panthers33Dallas Cowboys14
2016Minnesota Vikings13Detroit Lions16
2016Washington26Dallas Cowboys31
2017Minnesota Vikings30Detroit Lions23
2017Los Angeles Chargers28Dallas Cowboys6
2018Chicago Bears23Detroit Lions16
2018Washington23Dallas Cowboys31
2019Chicago Bears24Detroit Lions20
2019Buffalo Bills26Dallas Cowboys15
2020Houston Texans41Detroit Lions25
2020Washington Football Team41Dallas Cowboys16
2021Chicago Bears16Detroit Lions14
2021Las Vegas Raiders36Dallas Cowboys33
2022Buffalo Bills28Detroit Lions25
2022New York Giants20Dallas Cowboys28
2023Green Bay Packers29Detroit Lions22
2023Washington Commanders10Dallas Cowboys45

I didn't include the Thursday night games from those years, because there's no novelty in playing on Thursday night anymore, but road teams have done well in those games too -- 6-4 the past 10 years.

Detroit (versus Chicago), Dallas (versus the Giants) and Green Bay (versus Miami) are all favored on Thursday. But if recent history is any indication, at least one of those three favorites will be taking an L.

--Andy Richardson

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