As a football fan, I always crave more games. Preferably, on Primetime. It gives me the opportunity to watch in an uninterrupted setting. But, as someone who breaks down the matchups for any advantage possibly, I absolutely love additional nationally-televised games. Because, as I am sitting down to watch the games from start-to-finish, so is the rest of the country.
Thanksgiving gives us a window through which we can see what others see.
From last week, we have five Primetime games from which we can draw conclusions. This gives us insight to the perception surrounding nearly one-third of the league.
For the rest of the games, we have three-quarters of the season to use as the source of our analysis. By now, teams are fighting for playoff positioning or to avoid embarrassment. But, shockingly, some teams are still trying to figure out what they are.
We’ll attack each type of team accordingly.
Below are predictions for each game against the spread. Spreads have been taken from various websites and are subject to change. The spread in parenthesis denotes the selected team. An asterisk denotes a confidence pick.
*Confidence Picks – 2019 Season: 42-36-2 (Last Week: 3-3)
(2018 Season: 63-48-4) (2017 Season: 53-48-4) (2016 Season: 53-67-3) (2015 Season: 69-45-2) (2014 Season: 61-46-2) (5-Year Total: 299-254-15)
All Picks Against Spread – 2019 Season: 97-92-3 (Last Week: 10-6)
(2018 Season: 137-118-12) (2017 Season: 137-119-11) (2016 Season: 123-136-8) (2015 Season: 143-117-7) (2014 Season: 149-114-4) (5-Year Total: 689-604-42)
Dallas Cowboys at Chicago Bears
I almost always write about the nationally-televised matchups from the prior week as examples of what we know the entire football community witnessed. But, when we follow a week in which there were more nationally-televised games than usual, we have extra work to do. More to unpack.
The Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears both had drastically different situations in their respective Thanksgiving games. The Cowboys played at home against a non-conference team while the Bears traveled to a division rival in a direct rematch of last year’s Thanksgiving afternoon. To the latter point, the results were largely the same.
This was not the case for Dallas.