Sports Reference Blog

The Best Thanksgiving Teams in NFL History

Posted by Jonah Gardner on November 23, 2016

On November 22, 1945, the Detroit Lions hosted the Cleveland Rams. Although there had been some professional football games on Thanksgiving in the 1920s and 30s, this marked the beginning of a new era and an impressive streak. For each of the next 71 years, the Lions would play on Thanksgiving. The Dallas Cowboys officially joined in the fun in 1966, as football joined turkey, naps, and contentious political arguments as a universally recognized Thanksgiving Day tradition.

This year, there are three excellent Thanksgiving Day games lined up, including, amazingly, 0 teams with a record below .500. This year's games will all have real stakes, especially the battle between the Lions and Minnesota Vikings, who are currently tied for first in the NFC North.

Ahead of this Thursday's games, we wanted to take a look back to answer a simple question: who's been the best Thanksgiving team in the NFL, since the Lions' streak began in 1945? Looking at only active franchises, let's see who stands out from the pack.

If you start with win-loss record, the answer is fairly simple. Four teams have perfect records on Thanksgiving Day. The Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, and New Orleans Saints are all 1-0, while the Baltimore Ravens are 2-0. However, the Philadelphia Eagles, despite having a loss on their record, may be the most impressive team in terms of results, boasting a 5-1 W-L record on Thanksgiving Day.

On the other end, the Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are only winless Thanksgiving teams, with each going 0-1. However, that's not nearly as impressive a record of futility as the Arizona Cardinals. Over the team's 10-game Thanksgiving history, spanning three cities and 68 years, the Cardinals have just a single win, a 28-14 victory in 1948 over the Lions.

The Jacksonville Jaguars also deserve a special shoutout: they're the only active NFL franchise that's never played on Thanksgiving.

What about the two hosts? It's no surprise that the Cowboys, typically the better team throughout the course of NFL history, have a better Thanksgiving record than the Lions. Dallas has gone 29-18-1 on Thanksgiving, for a winning percentage of .615, which ranks 11th among active franchises. Detroit, on the other hand, has gone 33-37-2, and ranks 22nd.

Among the other four teams playing this year, there's been a wide range of results. The Pittsburgh Steelers, somewhat surprisingly, have been one of the worst Thanksgiving teams in history, with a record of 1-4 on Turkey Day (the 4th worst in the NFL). Washington's not much better; they're 3-6 on Thanksgiving. On the other end, the Colts and Vikings have some of the best Thanksgiving records, going 2-0-1 and 6-2, respectively.

Of course, as a reader of a statistics blog, you probably know that W-L record isn't necessarily the best way to determine a team's true strength or weakness. Fortunately, I've also crunched the numbers on point differential.

Going by raw point differential, the Cowboys have been far and away the best team on Thanksgiving, with a +226 that makes them the only team with a triple-digit margin. At the other end, the Cardinals are the worst, with a -154 differential that's 30 points worse than the Green Bay Packers.

However, those results are tilted towards teams that played more times on Thanksgiving. If you go by point differential per game, the Bucs (-28) have actually been the worst Thanksgiving team, while the Cardinals (-16.8) are still at the bottom for teams with more than one appearance. The best teams ever are the Panthers (+19) and the Colts (+16.7).

In total, here's how Thursday's teams stack up historically:

Minnesota (6-2, 8.2 average PD) at Detroit (33-37-2, 0.0 average PD)

Washington (3-6, -2.7 average PD) at Dallas (29-18-1, 4.7 average PD)

Pittsburgh (1-4, -9.2 average PD) at Indianapolis (2-0-1, 16.7 average PD)

In good news for people who like offense, the Vikings and Colts have had some of the most potent offenses in Thanksgiving history, ranking third and fourth in points scored per game. The Steelers, on the other hand, scored the fourth fewest points per game.

None of the top defenses are playing this year. That list is led by the Ravens, who allowed 13 points per game in their two Thanksgiving showdowns.

What about individual records? The biggest blowout on Thanksgiving Day came in 1980, when the Cowboys blasted the Seattle Seahawks 51-7. Detroit's biggest victory was a 42-point demolition of the Steelers in 1983.

Since 1950, there have been two QBs who posted a perfect 158.3 passer rating on Thanksgiving (not counting a couple others who threw just one pass). One was Dave Krieg, who threw for 350 passing yards and three touchdowns without an interception in 1994 for the Lions. 16 years laterTom Brady put up a 341 yard, four touchdown performance against the Lions.

As for the worst QB performance, it came from an unlikely source. In 1989, Troy Aikman had a positively abysmal game, going 7-21 with just 54 yards and three interceptions, good for a passer rating of just 2.8. He isn't the only legend to have a Thanksgiving performance he'd rather forget. None other than Dan Marino has a passer rating of 17.8 in a 1999 game against Aikman and the Cowboys.

The Thanksgiving rushing record, shockingly, is not held by Barry Sanders. Instead, it's someone we'd all rather not spend a holiday thinking about: O.J. Simpson, whose 273 rushing yard performance in 1976 is not likely to be bested any time soon.

For Antonio Brown and Dez Bryant, the mark to beat on Thursday will be 188 receiving yards. That's the record, set by Andre Johnson in 2012.

Hopefully, you've enjoyed this look back at Thanksgivings past. On behalf of the entire Sports-Reference team, we hope everyone has a relaxing and safe holiday!

One Response to “The Best Thanksgiving Teams in NFL History”

  1. maddenvip Says:

    Fortunately, I've also crunched the numbers on point differential.That list is led by the Ravens, who allowed 13 points per game in their two Thanksgiving showdowns.
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