Through all of the adversity Jim Kelly has faced, he remains thankful.
Jim Kelly enjoyed a hall of fame career and made a lot of money playing football, but he hasn’t had the easiest life. There are the four consecutive Super Bowl losses, of course, but those pale in comparison to the adversity he’s faced off-the-field. He lost his son, Hunter, at an early age and has faced cancer (and won) twice.
Kelly spoke about that adversity in this tear-jerker of a Thanksgiving package that CBS ran before his Bills took on the Cowboys. There’s a good chance someone is actually cutting onions around you right now, so you can probably get away with watching this one in front of others.
Jim Kelly has dealt with adversity on and off the field.
The official inactive lists for the Thanksgiving game between the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills.
The short week leading up to the any Thursday game leaves teams little time to recover and get healthy. It’s no different for the Cowboys’ annual Thanksgiving game, as they take on the Buffalo Bills. Despite the quick turnaround, both teams will enter the contest fairly healthy all things considered.
For Dallas, there’s one surprise on the inactive list. Safety Jeff Heath, despite being listed as questionable and after participating somewhat throughout the week’s practice, will not be available while recovering from injuries to both shoulders. In his place will be the combination of safeties Darian Thompson and Josh Jones.
LB Leighton Vander Esch was ruled out with the neck injury that had affected his play, though the severity of it is still shrouded in mystery. Veteran Sean Lee will continue to assume the bulk of the workload in his place.
[lawrence-related id=635281]
DT Antwaun Woods was ruled out on Wednesday after being unable to practice throughout the week with an MCL injury. His status going forward is unknown. Rookie DT Trysten Hill will be active just the fifth time this season.
Cowboys inactives: Cedrick Wilson, Devin Smith, Jeff Heath, Leighton Vander Esch, Joe Jackson, Brandon Knight, Antwaun Woods
For Buffalo, they will be without tackle Ty Nsekhe, who has taken 46% of the offensive snaps this season. Center Mitch Morse and WRr Robert Foster will be available despite minimal work this week.
The Buffalo Bills face the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving in an important game that have potential playoff implications for both teams.
The Bills will be facing the Dallas Cowboys for a Turkey Day clash, and will be looking to pull an impressive upset on the big stage. Dallas sits at 6-5 and are coming off a poor loss to the New England Patriots, while the Bills are 8-3 and are coming off an important victory vs. Denver.
Both teams are jockeying for playoff positions before the homestretch of the season. With that being said, here are five important matchups to watch on Thanksgiving:
Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott. Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
Ezekiel Elliot vs. Tremaine Edmunds, Matt Milano
Ezekiel Elliot is one of the best running backs in football and has the burden of carrying Dallas’s offense. In four of the Cowboys losses this season Zeke was held to under 100 yards, which means that the entire Bills defense needs to be on the top of their game to stop the Pro Bowl running back. If Buffalo wants a shot at winning they will need to hold Zeke to under 100 yards.
Holding Elliot to under 100 yards is easier said than done though. On his 215 rushing attempts this season he has 919 yards and seven rushing touchdowns. Elliot averages 4.9 yards per carry, while the Bills defense allows 4.4 yards per attempt which is 20th in the NFL. Luckily for the Bills, Elliot has only managed 3.1 yards per carry in his past three games.
The leaders of the Bills defense, Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano will be spearheading the rush defense to prevent Ezekiel Elliot from dominating Buffalo. In the past two weeks, Milano and Edmunds have been sent on more blitzes on crucial downs which has led to the two making blowing up plays in the backfield.
Milano and Edmunds have combined for 153 tackles this season, with 17 of them coming in the backfield. If Edmunds and Milano want to prevent Elliot from dominating the game, they will need to make plays in the backfield and at the line of scrimmage.
Sep 15, 2019; Landover, MD, USA; Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Gallup (13) runs after a catch against the Washington Redskins during the second half at FedExField. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports For the first time since 1996, …
Sep 15, 2019; Landover, MD, USA; Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Gallup (13) runs after a catch against the Washington Redskins during the second half at FedExField. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
For the first time since 1996, the Buffalo Bills are 8-3, and for the first time since 1994, they are playing football on Thanksgiving. Dallas has been a regular host of the Thanksgiving Day series since 1966, and the Cowboys have a rich history against the Buffalo Bills. It is one of the most anticipated games of Thanksgiving this year.
Here is everything that you need to know about the history of the Cowboys and Buffalo Bills, including their respective Thanksgiving Day stats:
The Bills and Cowboys first met on September 17, 1971, in Buffalo. The Cowboys won that game 49-37.
They met in two Superbowls, 27 and 28, with Dallas winning both encounters.
Their most recent encounter took place on December 27, 2015, and the Bills won that encounter 16 – 6.
The Cowboys lead the all-time series, including the two Super Bowl games, 8 games to 4 and have outscored Buffalo 280-181 over those 12 encounters.
The Cowboys played their first Thanksgiving Day game on November 24, 1966, defeating the Cleveland Browns 26-14.
Dallas would hold that tradition annually, with the exception of 1975 and 1977, in an effort to help out the St. Louis (Arizona) Cardinals boost stadium ticket sales.
Dallas is 31-18-1 on Thanksgiving.
Buffalo started playing Thanksgiving Day games while in the AFL. They played their first against the New York Titans (Jets) in a 21-14 loss.
The modern iteration of the Buffalo Bills have never hosted a Thanksgiving Day game, but played in five during their AFL years when no team had that home game guaranteed.
The Bills are 3-4-1 on Thanksgiving.
2019 So Far
Coming off of a 10-6 season and winning the NFC East for the second time in three years, the Cowboys are having a interesting year to say the least. Dallas lost in the Divisional Round of the playoffs to the Los Angeles Rams, and there were very high expectations coming into this season.
The Cowboys are currently 6-5, narrowly sitting atop the NFC East with Philadelphia only one game back at 5-6. As close as the race for the NFC East has been, both Philadelphia and Dallas are not being viewed as very competitive amongst the entire NFL, and are currently the worst team by record in the NFC Playoffs. A rather disappointing year that has many of the Dallas fan base calling for Jason Garrett’s removal as head coach, again.
2019 has been rocky from the start, as star running back Ezekiel Elliott held out for a bigger contract, a few years short of the expiration of his rookie deal. Considering the workload that has been put on “Zeke” over his very young NFL career, it was relatively fair, considering the toll that running back’s endure. However, the hold out led to some awkward moments and uncomfortable statements between Owner Jerry Jones and Elliott.
Also, a looming question heading into 2019 was quarterback Dak Prescott’s contract situation. Prescott has played relatively well in his tenure, sporting a 38-21 record as a starter with 14,309 yards passing, 88 touchdowns and 35 interceptions. He will most likely be extended with Dallas, as he’s given stability at his position that the Cowboys didn’t have during the latter years of Tony Romo’s career. Whether or not Dak has performed well in clutch moments, has been the question of his biggest detractors, and that is an area that he has lacked in.
Dallas began the season with three straight wins, defeating the New York Giants, Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins. A great start, and Dallas looked like a top tier team and a definite Super Bowl contender, granted the strength of schedule. Prescott was having some of his best numbers, and the team, as a unit, was a well oiled machine.
However, it was the three games after that win streak that gave the Cowboys a stigma for 2019 that they “couldn’t beat good teams”. Losing to the New Orleans Saints 10-12, Green Bay Packers 24-34, and even a massive upset by the New York Jets, left Dallas feeling like an average team that couldn’t compete against the class of the division.
Since then, they’ve defeated the Eagles 37-10, completed the sweep of the Giants by winning 37-18, lost to the Minnesota Vikings 24-28, beat Detroit 35-27 and fell to the New England Patriots 9-13.
Dallas currently ranks first in “Team Offense” earning 4,767 yards over their first 11 games. They are the number one passing offense as well, with 3,339 passing yards. They are the eighth ranked rushing offense with 1,428 rushing yards, nearly 1,000 yards behind the Baltimore Ravens who sit at first.
Dak is currently the number one passer in the NFL, with 3,433 yards passing, tied at fourth in passing touchdowns with Kirk Cousins at 21 and tied for fifth in interceptions at 10 with Jimmy Garoppolo, Matt Ryan, Sam Darnold and Ryan Fitzpatrick.
“Zeke” is ranked seventh in rushing with 919 yards on the ground and tied at seven rushing touchdowns with Nick Chubb, Josh Jacobs, Todd Gurley and Bills QB Josh Allen. Dak Prescott has 197 rushing yards to his credit, good enough for 60th in the NFL, as well as three rushing touchdowns of his own.
Amari Cooper comes in at sixth in receiving, amassing 886 yards and he’s tied for fifth with touchdown receptions, at seven. Michael Gallup is the next best receiver, sitting at 21st in the NFL with 733 receiving yards. Randall Cobb at 39th with 581 yards.
As a defense, Dallas sits sixth in the NFL, allowing 3,503 yards against them and the seventh most points scored against them at 210. They are sixth in passing defense, giving up 2,350 yards by air and 12 touchdowns. The weakest aspect of their defense is against the rush, with 1,153 yards ran against them, good enough for 15th in the NFL.
How they match up with Buffalo?
There is certainly some intrigue with this game. Both Dallas and Buffalo are teams with stigmas. They can beat who they are supposed to beat, but can’t get the job done against winning teams. It rings true, as Dallas has not yet defeated a team with a winning record as of Week 13. The only team that Buffalo has defeated with a winning record currently, is the Tennessee Titans.
The Bills rush defense is at great risk this week, although it has improved the last few weeks. Ezekiel Elliott is one of the best running backs in the game, and an excellent pass-catching back. We all watched the defense that New England brought forth on Dallas last week, limiting the best passing offense to no touchdowns. The Bills have a tough defense as well, and it will be interesting to see if the Bills can duplicate or come close to New England’s performance.
Offensively, the Bills moved the ball effectively against Denver, who is ranked in the Top 10. Smart, calculated football to keep moving the chains with more usage for Singletary and Gore. The Cowboys weak rush defense should be a target for Buffalo in this game. Also, Cole Beasley is making his big return to the team where he had spent many years at. Beasley was excellent in the short to mid-range passing game last week, and it would be a good idea to continue to build off of that.
The Cowboys obviously have home field advantage on their side, and that typically bodes well with teams on short weeks. Traveling teams are 5-7 on the year, which aren’t terrible odds for the Bills.
Enjoy this game, and the other two throughout the day, with family and friends, the best way to enjoy football. Happy Thanksgiving from myself and the rest of the Billswire staff to you and yours!
Thanksgiving is mostly about the underdogs in these football games.
Week 13 of the NFL kicks off with three games on Thanksgiving. As always, the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys will play at home. The nightcap will be an NFC South showdown between the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons.
Here are our picks for each of those games, based on the point spread and point totals.
The Lions have lost four in a row and now will have their third-string quarterback, David Blough, under center, as Jeff Driskel hurt his hamstring on Sunday. That combined with the Bears’ very tough defense will mean an ugly early Thanksgiving game.
The Cowboys are favored by a touchdown over the 8-3 Bills, and the advanced stats say that may not even be enough
The bye weeks are over and half of the league’s divisional races are all but decided. One such race that is far from over, however, is the NFC East.
The Dallas Cowboys currently sit as the favorites, with a 64% chance to win their second consecutive division title, per FiveThirtyEight. The Philadelphia Eagles are just a game behind, and could match the Cowboys win total with a victory over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. That is, unless the Cowboys take down the 8-3 Buffalo Bills.
Dallas comes in to Thursday afternoon as 6.5 point favorites despite two fewer wins than Buffalo has on the year. On the surface that may seem strange, but the underlying numbers all heavily favor the Cowboys, especially statistics rooted in Expected Points.
Expected Points, the foundation of many analytical arguments, uses data from previous NFL seasons to determine how many points a team is likely to come away with on a given play based on down, distance, time remaining, and field position. The difference in expected points at the start of a play and expected points at the end is referred to as expected points added, or EPA.
A play with a positive EPA means it put the offense in a better position to score, while negative EPA implies the offense is in a worse position.
Buffalo goes from a top-10 team to a bottom-10 team after adjusting for strength of schedule. No other team comes close to that kind of a change. So when you see the 6-5 Cowboys favored by a touchdown against an 8-3 team, there’s your reason.
We can take these adjustments one step further and apply them to upcoming games to see how Dallas’ offense matches up against Buffalo’s defense, and vice versa. This, along with a variable added to account for home field advantage, gives Dallas an even greater advantage by my model. Here’s how the model sees each NFC East game shaking out this week:
My model sees Dallas as double-digit favorites this week at home. I’m not suggesting you go put all your money on the Cowboys to cover, but you should feel confident that they won’t ruin your Thanksgiving dinner this year. The Bills’ strength on defense is in the passing game, while their run defense is the second worst in the NFL by my measure.
The Cowboys’ passing offense has torn apart every opponent this season, save for the monsoon game in New England, so while this game is ripe for a big Ezekiel Elliott outing, I wouldn’t fear this Bills secondary enough to take passes away from Dak Prescott.
These predictions also account for quarterback play, which is the main reason Carolina is favored by so much. Dwayne Haskins did get his first career win last week, but his numbers are still in the basement of the NFL.
Of the 41 quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks in 2019, Haskins ranks 40th in average EPA. Only recently benched Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Ryan Finley has been worse on a per-play basis. This prediction is less a praising of the Panthers and more an indictment of Washington’s play this season.
Philadelphia is coming off of a stinker of a game against Seattle, where they turned the ball over four times and didn’t get into the endzone until the final seconds of the game. They’ve had a tough schedule so far, having played five teams in the top 10 in adjusted EPA differential, which is why they still sit at 11th in our ranks. The fact that this one is in Miami is really the only reason this isn’t the largest spread of the week.
Last but not least is the New York Giants.
Green Bay is coming off of an absolute beating at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers, but that doesn’t mean they’re a bad team. It more solidified the fact that San Francisco, New England, and Baltimore are in a class of their own this year. On the other side, Daniel Jones is sitting at 37th in EPA/dropback, largely due to some costly sacks. No team has lost more EPA on sacks this year than the Giants. On plays where the quarterback is sacked, the Giants offense leads the league in fumbles, lost fumbles, and touchdowns given up to the defense.
The Cowboys are the only NFC East team to play on Thursday, and if it follows along with what the advanced stats are telling us, this should be a somewhat stress-free Thanksgiving for Cowboys fans.
They’ll need it too, if they want to keep up their advantage in the playoff race in these final weeks of the season.
Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll orchestrated the sweetest drive of Buffalo’s 8-3 season off the field following Sunday’s 20-3 win versus the Broncos (3-8).
Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll orchestrated the sweetest drive of Buffalo’s 8-3 season off the field following Sunday’s 20-3 win versus the Broncos (3-8).
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported this feel-good family story Wednesday ahead of the AFC East second-place team’s trip to Dallas to face the Cowboys on Thanksgiving.
Racheal Hall takes her 12-year-old son Ethan to a Bills game every year. Hall’s cousin Mike Bonefede is a 10-year season ticket holder and the group was heading New Era Field Sunday when Bonefede’s truck broke down. A mere four miles from the stadium, the five-person group Ubered the rest of the way in.
But after the Bills beat Denver, surcharge pricing pushed the cost of a trip all the way home to nearly $300. The group decided to begin walking away from the stadium with the hopes that distance and time away from the just-finished game would lead to more affordable pricing.
During the walk, Bonefede recognized a man in traffic with his window rolled down as the man in charge of the Bills offensive play calling, Daboll himself. Mike struck up a conversation which led to the offensive coordinator offering to drive the group to a nearby Tim Horton’s where they would be able to wait for an Uber the rest of the way.
Hall told the Democrat and Chronicle that she believed her cousin was simply friends with the kind driver and was discussing the game unknowingly, even referencing her son’s wish for his fantasy WR John Brown to catch a pass coming true. Eventually, Hall asked Daboll how he knew Bonefede and learned the truth: the group lucked into a ride from the game for free thanks to their team’s OC.
The Cowboys and Lions have the musical acts set for the halftime performances on Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving means three NFL games. It also brings halftime acts to your television that networks feature … for some reason.
The Detroit Lions last year gave us Mike Posner, who went viral for a variety of reasons, not all good. He also got some notice in 2019 when he was walking across the United States and was derailed after being bit by a rattlesnake.
This go-round, Detroit is offering up the Brothers Osborne, a Grammy-nominated country-rock duo. Country music recording artist Jimmie Allen will perform the national anthem.
The Brothers Osborne are singer/songwriter siblings who currently reign as three-time CMA Vocal Duo of the Year in addition to being named ACM Vocal Duo of the Year the past two years. Overall, Brothers Osborne have collected four CMA and five ACM trophies including Video of the Year wins for their Top 10 GRAMMY-nominated Platinum single “It Ain’t My Fault.”
At halftime of the Bills-Cowboys game, Ellie Goulding will perform.
Goulding was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2016 for her single “Love Me Like You Do.” This year, she has released three singles in anticipation of her upcoming fourth album.
The Saints-Falcons on NBC will have a big name opening the show.
Atlanta-based multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning Zac Brown Band headlines NBC Sports’ show open for the Sunday Night Football “Thanksgiving Special” as the New Orleans Saints visit the Atlanta Falcons.
Gathered in Atlanta around a Thanksgiving table with all the trimmings, the special show open begins with Zac Brown receiving a text from Carrie Underwood, the star of NBC’s Sunday Night Football show open, who has the holiday off.
Zac reveals his guitar – strategically placed under the table – and Zac and the guys serve up a classic acoustic holiday version of their 2008 hit “Chicken Fried,” just in time for Thanksgiving dinner.
Thanksgiving 2019 can be looked at as great entertainment…or, well, terrible. It ultimately comes down to how you look at the glass.
While we’re all brainwashed—lulled into a comfortable trance by the tranquil voice of Jim Nantz—to believe the Masters is “A tradition unlike any other,” the slate of NFL games on Thanksgiving is the true champion of unique sports experiences.
Thanksgiving NFL games carry so much more than the actual matchup or even outcome. For some, they are an escape from family members or that weird casserole thing, with all the raisins on it, that Aunt Clara made. For others, it’s a chance to digest and catch one’s breath while enjoying a form of holiday-warming nostalgia that harkens back to Pre-Turducken. There are conversations—with minor doses of directed snark—with people you don’t normally talk to: “Well…that’s actually a Cover-4, Bill.”
For many folks, it’s a chance to sleep.
And whatever your reason is for watching (or ignoring) the NFL on Thanksgiving day, I’m sure it’s fantastic. It’s unique, in your particular way—regardless if your team is playing, if your money is swaying, or if you’re simply a fan of all-things Joe Buck. At the end of the day, this proverbial smorgasbord of football consumption ultimately comes down to how you look at it.
Remote, please.
Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions
Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Daniel /Allsport
Glass Half-Full:
This game, unlike the others, has so much history—it’s matchup No. 180. It’s always great, regardless of the team’s quarterback or shortcomings.
The Bears are coming off a win over the Giants, where Mitch Trubisky looked decent at times, and the defense lived up to its 4th-overall ranking. The Bears won this game last year too, behind a solid effort from Chase Daniel—so, maybe, if Trubisky is ineffective, the memory of yesteryear could be the spark for the offense?
For The Lions, although the team has suffered four consecutive losses, none have been by more than eight points. Like most rivalries such as this, the records don’t factor into the outcome, so you have to like the chances when playing in front of the home crowd.
Glass Half-Empty:
Who is David Blough? You know what, it doesn’t matter. Who lines up under center, for either team, holds about as much importance as whether there’s sausage in the stuffing or not—it’s stuffing.
The Bears barely beat the Giants, and Josh Nagy seems like a befuddled press secretary at this point. The Lions have been hanging on by the fact they ‘barely” lost to basically their entire schedule. Though Matt Patricia and his pencil might make for a cool Halloween costume, it causes nothing but indigestion on more food-centric holidays like Thanksgiving. Sure, the NFC is a somewhat open road, but that doesn’t mean it’s an abandoned parking lot. Change the channel, and let’s see what Hoda is up to!
