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Which NFL Teams Are Playing the Late Game on Thanksgiving, and Why Isn’t It on Prime Video?
Luke Norris began his sportswriting career in 2013 and joined Sportscasting in 2020. The former Section Editor of the NFL and Motorsports sections, he now spends his time here in the role of Senior Writer-Programmer. His well-rounded sports knowledge allows him to cover the NFL, NBA, PGA Tour, MLB, boxing, WWE, and NASCAR for Sportscasting. Luke is an avid golfer who finds inspiration in the way sports can bring people together and provide a distraction from the real world. He hopes to provide a little entertainment or an escape from the real world with every article he writes, even if only for a few minutes. In addition to his work here at Sportscasting, Luke's work has appeared on The Sportster, Inquisitr, GiveMeSport, FanSided, Yahoo! Fox Sports, and Sports Illustrated.
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Since 2006, the NFL has held a primetime Thanksgiving Day matchup not involving the Detroit Lions or the Dallas Cowboys, and we’ve got an interesting one this year as the New England Patriots visit the Minnesota Vikings.
The Patriots own a 3-2 record on the holiday and enter their first Turkey Day matchup in a decade riding a three-game winning streak. Two of those victories have come over the New York Jets, who they squeaked by this past Sunday thanks to Marcus Jones, who returned a punt 84 yards for a touchdown with just five seconds remaining to secure the 10-3 win.
The Pats’ defense certainly played a part in the win as well, holding the hapless Jets’ offense to 103 total yards.
And speaking of a hapless offense, the Minnesota Vikings are coming off their worst game of the year as they were blown out at home by the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, 40-3. Kirk Cousins had season-lows in completion rate (52.2%) and passing yards (105) and also saw his 39-game streak of throwing at least one touchdown come to an end.
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And the Vikings’ defense obviously wasn’t much better as it got run over by a Dallas offensive attack that posted 458 yards.
Now, the Patriots’ offense isn’t nearly as dangerous, but Mac Jones is coming off an incredibly efficient performance in which he completed 23 of 27 passes for 246 yards. But he also failed to find the end zone for the third time in five games and took six sacks.
The Vikings, who own a 6-2 record on Thanksgiving, are the betting favorite but don’t be surprised if Bill Belichick & Co. extend their winning streak to four.
Despite this game being played on a Thursday night, it won’t air on Prime Video as NBC still has the rights to Thanksgiving night coverage. Amazon will get in on the holiday action next year with an exclusive Black Friday broadcast.
The Vikings-Patriots matchup gets going on NBC at 8:20 p.m. Eastern.
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