NFL Thanksgiving Day 2018: 9 winners, 7 football losers from Turkey

Thanksgiving belongs to the NFL since 1920, and the turkey would not taste the same without a screen off on TV. Blinking images of Detroit Lions marked in the background. This year's vacation has given you a three-course meal to accompany your nine courses, distributing a large amount of Bears-Lions, Washington-Cowboys and Falcons-Saints.

Injuries such as Mitchell Trubisky, Marvin Jones and Kerryon Johnson deprived the Detroit game of three offensive powers. A devastated leg by Alex Smith stole Washington from his starting quarter and forced Colt McCoy to take a lead role. And a fierce rivalry between the 2017 playoff teams has lost some of its heat due to absurd dominance at the Saints' edge this fall and the claimant's fall of the Falcons to a franchise below .500.

But if this year's Thanksgiving slate looked worse because of paper wear, it still gave gamers the chance to shine while America digested. Here are nine winners and seven losers from Thursday:

Saints 31, Hawks 17

Winner: The Drew Brees MVP Campaign

Brees launched an interception (on a play with enough contact to deserve a pass interference penalty), but that was his only mistake of the night. He finished with 15 assists in 22 attempts for 171 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.

To put in perspective how his 2018 season was excellent, his odds of 115.3 Thursday was lowered his season rating of 126.9 he had come into the game. Brees has also dropped its end-of-season percentage of only connecting on 68.2 percent of his passes.

Many players are posting high quality statistics in 2018, but the case of Brees as a MVP in the league is becoming more and more difficult to deny.

Winner: Receivers not created for saints

Michael Thomas is a true catcher No. 1, but injuries cut the rest of the receiving depth of the Saints. Fortunately for New Orleans, Brees can make do with anybody at the receiver. Against the Falcons, he sent touchdown passes to four different players who recently joined the NFL as unmarked free agents:

Arnold and Kirkwood each had their first career touchdown reception on Thursday, while Lewis and Carr each had their second. It does not matter who plays the receiver for the Saints.

Loser: Falcons red zone offense

It seemed like a shootout was preparing for the first practice of the match in Atlanta. The Falcons crossed the Saints defense all along the 10-yard line, but scored no points when Marcus Williams hit Matt Ryan on a sack. It was a forerunner of things to come.

The Falcons' next training started in New Orleans territory and reached the 7-yard line, but ended with a placement.

Atlanta seemed to score a few points just before half-time, but the second time the Falcons crossed that damn 20-meter line …

Julio Jones fumbled and the Saints eliminated the remaining clock in the first period.

Finally, the Falcons scored a touchdown in the red zone towards the end of the third quarter when Ryan found Calvin Ridley in the back of the end zone for a fourth try. But two times later, Ridley was close to his second touchdown and fumbled near the goal line.

All these points left on the ground meant that the Falcons had no chance to follow him.

Loser: The Atlanta Running

Maybe the Falcons could have done more in the red zone if there was some semblance of balance in their attack. But Atlanta had to give up running because:

1. They were late
2. In any case, they did not have the chance to rush.

Tevin Coleman finished with 8 yards on 6 yards and Ito Smith had 4 yards on 0 yards. The only Falcons player to have had fast race statistics is Matt Ryan, who had 16 yards on a pair of scrambles.

The Saints have been one of the toughest teams in the NFL to face this season. They put up a stopping performance against the race on Thursday and the Falcons attack was unbalanced all night.

Winner: Potato Salad

Everyone has Thanksgiving opinions, but the potato salad does not get a lot of love (rightly, in my opinion). Rodney Harrison came to the rescue by calling potato salad his favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal.

Potato salad?! Uh … to each his tastes, I guess.

Cowboys 31, Washington 23

Winner: Donations to the Salvation Army

Two years ago, Ezekiel Elliott channeled Terrell Owens when he celebrated a touchdown by jumping into the Salvation Army kettle in the Dallas Cowboys play area during the holiday season. He was marked for the celebration, so this time he tried something different. In the Cowboys' first training, Elliott had the bad idea of ​​bringing the ball 16 yards out of the house. To top it off, he dropped $ 21 – to match his jersey number – in the bucket:

In the fourth quarter, Dak Prescott transformed a bag into a zigzag pass to comfort the Cowboys advance. After scoring, Elliott took Prescott and put it in the kettle. Apparently, Prescott is considered an accessory because this decision earned Dallas a penalty of 15 yards:

Washington used the good position on the field to respond with a touchdown training itself.

In 2016, the Elliott celebration resulted in a huge increase in donations to the Salvation Army. Let's hope the same thing happens this time:

Loser: Dak Prescott's turned into a sandwich

The Cowboys were about to score near the goal line when Dak Prescott suffered a sore bag from Ryan Kerrigan and Preston Smith. Prescott fled Kerrigan and let himself be taken by Smith as he turned around.

Someone gives Dak Prescott some ice cream and a turkey leg as soon as possible.

Winner: Trey Quinn was Mr. Relevant

Trey Quinn was the last pick of the NFL draft in 2018, making Mr. Irrelevant this year, but he has won a lot against the Cowboys. At the start of the third quarter, Quinn returned a 30-yard deflated kickoff to set up Washington on the 25-yard Cowboys line.

Three games later, Quinn captured a 10-yard touchdown pass from Colt McCoy to give Washington a 13-10 lead – the first touchdown of Quinn's career.

Loser: Markelle Fultz gets dragged

The Sixers' # 1 pick in the 2017 draft has been hit by a jump shot for more than a year. His unorthodox free throws in particular have become viral.

Amari Cooper has decided to have a little fun at the expense of Fultz after his first touchdown:

Now, look at Fultz, who would like a fresh start, traded to the Mavs. But it looks like he had a good day at Cooper:

Winner: Amari Cooper breaks out

The 2018 season of Amari Cooper was marked by inconsistencies, but he demonstrated his talents during Thanksgiving. Cooper scored a 40-yard touchdown in the third quarter to give the Dallas 17-13 advantage.

Cooper still geared up for the Cowboys with a 90-yard run and a touchdown late in the third quarter.

According to NFL ResearchIt's the longest reception of Cooper's career and the completion of Dak Prescott's career.

Cooper finished with eight catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns.

Loser: Colt McCoy give the ball

Colt McCoy made three interceptions in his first game as a starter this season. The last one essentially put an end to Washington's chances of coming back and winning the game.

McCoy finished with two touchdowns and had 268 yards. Really, he was fine with the exception of the numbers … but they ended up killing and are a huge reason why Washington lost.

We'll see if McCoy can bounce back in two weeks against the Philadelphia Eagles Monday night football.

Bear 23, Lions 16

Winner: The Motown Celebration of Bears Defense

This happened just after Kyle Fuller eliminated Matthew Stafford with a little over a minute in the game. It's easily the best of the year. From afar.

Winner: Former second linebacker Nick Bellore saved the Lions

Detroit decided to sink deep into the Chicago territory. It sounded like a serious mistake when Matthew Stafford's attack swept a defender to the line of scrimmage.

Enter Bellore, the linebacker turned half-backback, who has turned out to be the right person in the right place to make all the difference.

The rarely used Bellore plunged under Stafford's pass to keep Detroit training alive, making his second catch of the season and the fourth of his career. Two games later, LeGarrette Blount would break a 0-0 draw by crashing into the end zone and adding a little excitement to what had been a pretty unassailable match.

Loser: Anyone who left the Thanksgiving table early to watch this game.

Here's how started the first game on Thursday:

Eeeergh.

Winner: Chase Daniel was pretty good!

Mitchell Trubisky did not have the dynamo when he defended the Lions defense 11 days ago, but Daniel was a full starter on Thursday. A 230-yard performance and two touchdowns proved he was well worth the eight-figure contracts he had signed to replace Kansas City and Philadelphia.

But Daniel also suffered his share of damage during his third career start. He fired two personal 15-yard fouls for late blows or brutal penalties and usually spent his time in the pocket to be knocked down like the Vandal Empire in 533. He ended his day with FOUR bags and is probably a little relieved. Mitchell Trubisky is expected to return next week.

Loser: Michael Roberts' quest to kill Lions

The Lions faced the third and one goal of the 2-yard line in Chicago when Matthew Stafford fell back and made a pass in the middle of the field to open forward Michael Roberts. Roberts, uh, did this:

And things have gotten worse from there! Twice later, a pass for Roberts would be in Eddie Jackson's hands, which would be a decisive choice. When the Lions penetrated deep into the Chicago territory with a chance of being tied, the heavy tight end could not be on the same level as Stafford, leading to an interception by Kyle Fuller that effectively ended match.