Who plays football on Thanksgiving 2022? What college and NFL teams play?
Thanksgiving sees the traditional Lions and Cowboys games start the football marathon, but check out which other teams and games you can watch this year.
Thanksgiving is just a few days away. The panic is setting in to prepare the food, the stress of seeing that weird uncle is starting to cause anxiety. But there’s one thing that no matter what, we can always count on to just sit back and enjoy on Thanksgiving, and that’s of course, football. If you’re a Cowboys fan, it’s not always a stress-free experience, but it’s at least an anxiety we feel less responsible for and that we can watch passively.
This year on Thanksgiving, we have four football games to enjoy. So stuff your face with mashed potatoes, sit back, become one with the couch, turn up the volume and tune out the chatter, and allow the results to play out how they will as you begin to fall in and out of a food-induced coma to the beautiful sounds of football in the background.
Thanksgiving Day football schedule - NFL and college football
Buffalo Bills at Detroit Lions
The first game of the day starts as always, with one of the two teams who have hosted a game on Thanksgiving Day every year since 1978. The Detroit Lions continue the tradition on Thursday as they host the Buffalo Bills at 12:30 p.m. ET to start the football marathon. The Bills actually just won a game at the Lions’ stadium when their game against the Cleveland Browns was relocated due to a snowstorm. The Lions will be coming into the game on a three-game winning streak.
New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are the second host team of the day, as tradition goes. This year, they host NFC East rivals New York Giants at 4:30 p.m. ET. At the moment, both teams are sitting at 7-3, just two games behind the Philadelphia Eagles in the division. The Cowboys and Giants have already met this season when Dallas won 23-16 in Week 3 with backup quarterback Cooper Rush filling in for Dak Prescott. The Cowboys are coming off a 40-3 beatdown of the Vikings on the road, but the Giants need a win if they want to stay at the top of the division.
Egg Bowl - Mississipi State at Ole Miss
It’s not just NFL on Thanksgiving. This year, the Egg Bowl will take place at 7 p.m. ET in Oxford. Mississippi State and Ole Miss will face off in one of the top rivalry games in college football. These are two teams who like to score - they have averaged almost 70 points per game this season. Ole Miss leads the series on Thanksgiving 15-11-1 and has won their last two games against Mississippi. Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach is now 0-2 in the Egg Bowl and will be looking to change that fortune this week.
New England Patriots at Minnesota Vikings
The Thursday night game on Thanksgiving will see the New England Patriots host the Minnesota Vikings at 8:20 p.m. ET. It will be the Patriots’ fifth Thanksgiving game and the Vikings’ eighth. The Patriots’ last Thanksgiving game was played in 2012 when they dominated the New York Jets in a game that became famously known as the “butt fumble” game. The Vikings also won their last Thanksgiving game against the Lions in 2017. The Patriots are currently first in the AFC East after winning three games in a row. The Vikings just had their seven-game winning streak broken in a 37-point blowout loss to the Cowboys just days ago, though they are still first in the NFC North with an 8-2 record.