What are the patches the NFL players are wearing on their jerseys on Thanksgiving?

There is a feast of three NFL Thanksgiving games for you to get stuck into this year before, during and after you’ve devoured your turkey, turducken or food of choice.

NFL 2025 Thanksgiving schedule

• Packers @ Lions (Thursday, 1PM ET): Both NFC North rivals come off Week 12 wins, with Green Bay looking to overcome its road struggles in a high-energy holiday opener.
• Chiefs @ Cowboys (Thursday, 4:30 PM ET): Following Dallas’ dramatic comeback over the Eagles, the Cowboys host Kansas City’s elite offence in a must-watch showdown at Jerry World.
• Bengals @ Ravens (Thursday, 8:20PM ET): Baltimore leads the AFC North, but a healthy Joe Burrow makes this Cincinnati-Baltimore rematch a key game with playoff implications.

For many, Thanksgiving means a full day of football surrounded by loved ones and those watching may well notice a slight difference on the six teams’ attires compared to your regular NFL games.

The NFL to pay tribute to John Madden

This Thanksgiving, the NFL will again be paying tribute to legendary broadcaster and coach John Madden with a special patch that each player will wear on their jerseys in Thursday’s games. On top of that, the coin used for the pregame toss will depict his silhouette on one side (heads) and a turducken, a dish Madden helped popularise, on the other (tails).

“John Madden was football,” NFL Commissioner stated after his death in December 2021. “There will never be another John Madden, and we will forever be indebted to him for all he did to make football and the NFL what it is today”.

Madden, who coached the Oakland Raiders to victory in Super Bowl XI before turning to broadcasting, was synonymous with football on Thanksgiving, calling 20 Thanksgiving games until his retirement in 2009.

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The Minnesota native was famed for awarding a turkey, or a turducken, to the team that won the game he was commentating on, and turkey legs to the player he was most impressed with. NBC have since continued the latter tradition in his honour, while the MVP in each of this year’s games will be handed a Madden trophy.

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