Football is almost as synonymous with Thanksgiving as turkey. The first Thanksgiving Day football game was played in Philadelphia in 1869, just six years after Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a fixed national holiday.

When most of us think of football, though, we think of the NFL. The NFL tradition started when the then Detroit Spartans Scheduled a game with the defending champion Chicago Bears. The game was organized to build excitement for the newly founded franchise by then-owner GA Richards. Richards, who also founded broadcast conglomerate Goodwill Stations Inc. partnered with NBC radio to broadcast the game nationwide. It was a rousing success and football on Thanksgiving was born.

Thirty years later the Cowboys hopped on the bandwagon for many of the same reasons. Then General Manager Tex Schramm scheduled the game to boost interest in a Dallas franchise that had struggled under coach Tom Landry. It worked! The Cowboys set an attendance record as 80 thousand fans watched them defeat the Browns at the Cotton Bowl. The ‘boys have played on almost every Thanksgiving day since.

Of course the most famous, or infamous depending on your fan affiliation, Thanksgiving Day play was Leon Lett’s slide into history. After blocking the game-winning field goal every Cowboy defender except Lett ran away from the spinning football. Lett, inexplicably, ran towards it, kicking it forward in the process. The Dolphins recovered on the one-yard line and Pete Stpyonavich made a 19 yard FG to win the game. Sadly, this would not be the last time Leon Lett and the goal line would collide. Right, Don Bebe? Hopefully we here at The Undroppables don’t come up as short as Lett in our attempt to cross the goal line this week.

Running Backs

To say that Duke Johnson has been underwhelming with his lead role would be an understatement. Despite receiving 93% of the Texans RB carries the last two weeks he’s come up smaller than this writer’s portion of Green Bean Casserole. Yuck. But this week he gets the Lions. The last three weeks the Lions have given up 475 yards and 6 touchdowns on the ground. His chances to score are pretty good.

Keeping with the Thanksgiving tradition, the Cowboys rank in the bottom third in adjusted fantasy points to the position. Antonio Gibson is 7 for 9 in goal to go situations. In a game with sneaky shootout potential, I like the rookie’s chances to cross the goal line for the fourth time in the last five games.

Figuring out the Tampa Bay backfield has become an exercise in futility. The metrics say that third-year tailback Ronald Jones has been the better player but Leonard Fournatte is clearly the apple of Tom Brady’s eye. The Chiefs can be had on the ground and in a game that will almost assuredly score points, I’d bet on one of these guys crossing the goal line.

Others I like:
Ezekiel Elliott
Nick Chubb
Josh Jacobs

Wide Receivers

Nelson Agholor has scored at least 14 PPR points in 5 of his last 7 games. He’s also logged more snaps than any other Las Vegas WR through ten games despite not starting until week three. This week he gets the Falcons 31st ranked pass defense. I like his chances to light up the dirty birds.

Brandin Cooks has exceeded 60 yards in five of six games and scored three touchdowns. The only thing holding him down lately has been the weather in Cleveland. This week he gets the Lions who just allowed Curtis Samuel and DJ Moore to carven them up like a … a Thanksgiving turkey. 🙂

DJ Moore is coming off his best outing of the season last week. In five of the past seven games he’s tallied at least 93 yards and his role in the offense is seemingly growing as Joe Brady figures out ways to get his superstar more involved.

Others I like:
Darnell Mooney
Terry McLaurin
Darius Slayton

Tight Ends

Travis Kelce has been on an absolute tear of late. Averaging 9 receptions 140 yards and scoring two touchdowns the last three weeks. He doesn’t have a great matchup this Sunday. Tampa Bay boasts a trio of athletic linebackers who are plus matchups in coverage. It doesn’t matter. Kelce will find a way to get open when it matters and Mahomes will find him.

Jordan Akins has seemingly separated himself from Darren fells. Akins logged his best game of the season last week against the Patriots, hauling in five receptions for 83 yards. The only thing missing was a trip across the goal line. He’ll rectify that this week against a Lions defense who rank 27th in adjusted fantasy points to the position.

Evan Engram has been on a mini hot streak. He’s nabbed at least five receptions in three of his last four games. Fresh off his bye he faces a Bengals defense that has surrendered the third-most receiving yards to opposing tight ends.

Others I like:
Tyler Kroft
Trey Burton
Irv Smith