After two consecutive Thanksgiving Day games against the Chicago Bears, the Detroit Lions will have a new opponent this year — the Houston Texans.
The Lions and Texans have faced each other just four times in their history with the Lions winning the inaugural meeting and dropping the next three, each loss by just one score.
Ironically, the most famous of the Lions-Texans’ games came in 2012 on Thanksgiving day, with the Texans winning in overtime 34-31, after one of the most controversial moments in then-coach Jim Schwartz’s career.
The Lions traded touchdowns in the first half, with the Lions scoring in the final 22-seconds to go up 21-14 at the half. The Lions were the first to score in the third quarter — a Jason Hanson field goal — to take a 10-point lead going into the later parts of the game.
Late in the third quarter, Texans running back Justin Forsett rushed the ball up the middle and was clearly down — both elbow and knee — but with no whistle blown, he gets up and 81-yards later he was in the endzone.
Everyone knew he was down.
Everyone.
Schwartz threw the challenge flag and controversy ensued.
The NFL has a rule in place where every scoring play was reviewed and referee’s commonly let a close situation play out, knowing they could look at it on replay after it was over — but in 2012 there was a unique addendum to the rule.
With the referee already needing to review the scoring play, Schwartz’s challenge was deemed unnecessary and per the NFL rulebook — which has substantially been changed to avoid this situation in the future — Schwartz was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct and his challenge nullified the referee’s ability to review the play, and in turn, the “touchdown that wasn’t” counted.
“I knew the rule — you can’t challenge on a turnover or a scoring play — but I was so mad that I overreacted,” Schwartz said after the game. “I had the flag in my hand before he even scored because he was obviously down.”
The teams continue to swap touchdowns and field goals over the final quarter and eventually end up in overtime.
In overtime, both teams had multiple possessions, each turned the ball over, and each missed a field goal — Hanson’s 47-yarder hit the right upright — before Texans kicker Shayne Graham hit a game-winning 32-yard field goal.
If you want to relieve the game you can in the video below, and if you want to see the Schwartz controversial mistake, skip ahead to the 1:23:09 mark:
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