By: Norbert Savard, Reporter
Every year, three teams play on Thanksgiving Day. This year, the Chicago Bears played the Detroit Lions. The Philadelphia Eagles played the Dallas Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks played the San Francisco 49ers.
Thanksgiving Day games are important to some people as it brings the family together.
Senior Eric Martin says, “Thanksgiving Football games are fun and they are good to be around with parts of your family on one side and others on the other side.”
This year the Detroit Lions won, meaning they won back to back Thanksgiving Day games. The Lions beat the Chicago Bears 34-17. Wide receiver Calvin Johnson was a key to the Lions offense as he had eleven receptions for one hundred forty six yards and two touchdowns. He led both teams in receptions, and receiving yards. Quarterback Matthew Stafford out threw quarterback Jay Cutler. Stafford had thirty four completions for forty five attempts, throwing for three hundred and ninety yards. Running back Joique Bell of the Lions ran for ninety one yards and two touchdowns. In the first quarter the Lions defense was slow as they gave up two touchdowns. The Lions battled back by allowing only a field goal and picked off Jay Cutler twice after the first quarter. After the first quarter, the Lions never looked back as they scored twenty one points in the second quarter and ten in the fourth quarter.
The Philadelphia Eagles offense was working well as they beat the Dallas Cowboys 33-10. LeSean McCoy, running back for the Eagles, had a season high of twenty five carries for one hundred fifty nine yards and the touchdown that put the Cowboys out of the game. Mark Sanchez had a good game as he had twenty completions for twenty nine attempts, and he threw two hundred seventeen yards, one touchdown, and rushed for a touchdown. The Cowboys’ offense and defense were slow in this game as Tony Romo had only eighteen completions for twenty nine attempts one hundred and ninety nine yards, and he threw two interceptions. Their running back Demarco Murray had twenty rushes for only seventy three yards. Dez Bryant a key wide receiver had only four receptions for seventy three yards. The Eagles had shut down the Cowboys by scoring in every quarter.
The Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers had a defensive game as the Seahawks only won 19-3. Russell Wilson had only fifteen completions for twenty two attempts, but he threw for two hundred and thirty six yards and one touchdown. Colin Kaepernick of the 49ers had sixteen completions for twenty nine attempts and for only one hundred and twenty one yards. He threw no touchdowns and two interceptions both by Richard Sherman. Seahawk’s running back Marshawn Lynch had twenty carries for just over a hundred yards. Running back Frank Gore on the other hand only had ten carries for twenty eight yards. Neither offense worked well. The Seahawks defense was master of the game with two interceptions and one forced fumble. The turnovers are what helped the Seahawks win the game.
Senior Demetrius Artis says, “Thanksgiving Football games and the Super Bowl are equal because the Super Bowl isn’t a holiday you are just watching the game. But you don’t have the family time together like Thanksgiving.”
After the three games are played a player is presented with the All-Iron Award. This award is always presented to one player on Thanksgiving Day. This year Calvin Johnson won the award.
Junior Lauren Ritter says, Calvin Johnson “won the award because he had a great game, receiving two touchdown passes”.
As the end of the season is getting closer so are the leads in the division; no one team is safe. Now, the teams ready themselves for the final games of the season and the start of the postseason.