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 2024 Thanksgiving schedule

First up, the Chicago Bears visit the Detroit Lions (12:30 p.m. ET), followed by the New York Giants’ visit to the Dallas Cowboys (4:30 p.m. ET). To finish off the big day, the Green Bay Packers host the Miami Dolphins (8:20 p.m. ET).

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).

Additionally, the showing of all three Thanksgiving games will be preceded by a video of Madden revealing, “There’s no place that I would rather be today on Thanksgiving than right here, right now, at a football game.”

“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.

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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