Okay, so Thanksgiving is done for another year.
Hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
We saw some interesting games yesterday. This time, I did not really watch any of them, other than glimpsing a few seconds of the Lions-Bears game while waiting at the restaurant, maybe a couple of minutes of the Giants-Cowboys game before my girlfriend told me that we should watch something else (less boring, she said), and seeing some highlights after the fact of the Packers-Dolphins game.
As for the Black Friday game, I had assumed - mistakenly - that it would be later. Like, a night game. So when I checked at around 10pm, it was surprising to find that the game had ended hours earlier, that the score was final already.
No biggie. Since my weekend schedule this week is quite packed, I likely will not be watching many games this coming weekend, either.
Still, I can review the games that already took place, right? So here is my review of the four Thanksgiving/Black Friday games played thus far:
Detroit 23, Chicago 20 - When I saw the Lions dominating in the first half on the television screens at the restaurant that my girlfriend and I went to for Thanksgiving, I assumed - wrongly - that they were just rolling and well on their way to a convincing victory. Indeed, they held a 16-0 advantage by halftime, and it could have been even more lopsided, if not for a turnover that the Lions committed deep in Chicago territory. But when we got back, it was 23-20, and the Lions were trying to cling to a narrow lead. Da Bears were driving with time quickly running out. And every time that you thought that Chicago was about to see their drive - and their chances at winning the game - die, something happened to keep it alive. This kept happening, to the point where at some point, I almost felt sure that they were actually going to pull off the upset win on the road. Indeed, the Bears were deep in Detroit territory and well in field goal range, but seemed to have a real shot at the winning touchdown. But then Detroit managed to get a sack with about 32 seconds left, and the Bears were so dismal with the way that they handled the clock after that, it cost them the game. They literally took almost all of that time just to get one more play off, and it wound up being the final play of the game, because the clock ran out on them. They had a time out, on top of it, so they could have - should have, obviously - used that at some point. My suspicion is that they thought there was more time on the clock than there actually was. It was just awful time management on their part, and this one cost them the game. Again, it really seemed like they had a real chance, and then squandered it like that. Frankly, they've got to do better than that. I couldn't believe it as it happened. This was a real chance to pick up a huge, upset win, snap Detroit's nine (now ten) game winning streak, and keep their own flickering playoff hopes alive, even give themselves a huge boost. Instead, they will have to ask what might have been.
My pick: Accurate
Dallas 27, NY Giants 20 - This result was boring. Sorry, Cowboys fans. Admittedly, I am a fan of Big Blue. But this result was just too predictable. I wanted the Giants to prove me wrong. And for a little while there, after Drew Lock almost ran it into the corner of the end zone, and the G-Men wound up scoring a touchdown to take an early 7-3 lead, I started to feel hopeful. But it was all downhill from there. Once again, not enough offense, and the defense - normally the strength of the team - just seemed unable to stop Dallas enough times when it was really necessary for them to step up. Granted, they did not get completely embarrassed in this one, like they did last week in that frankly embarrassing performance at home against the Bucs. Still, a loss is a loss, and the G-Men have not beaten the Cowboys, specifically, in a very long time. It was actually January of 2021, which in football terms, was a long time ago, frankly. What a depressing loss this was. Quite indicative, frankly, of this entire season for Big Blue.
My pick: Accurate
Thanksgiving Evening Game - Green Bay 30, Miami 17 - This was actually kind of the way I figured that this one would go. The Dolphins offense can be explosive, especially with Tua at the helm. However, it feels like the Packers are one of the best teams in the league this season, and that is for a reason. It felt like the Packers were kind of a heavyweight fighter just wearing down a lighter and weaker opponent. A part of me wondered if the Fins could somehow show the explosiveness that makes them so dangerous on offense, but the Pack D kept them pretty well grounded. Green Bay took a sizable lead early, and then just wore the Fins down. Miami simply was not able to make it a competitive game, and so took a loss that they could ill afford in the process.
My pick: Accurate
Kansas City 19, Las Vegas 17 - This is the one which, as of my writing this on Friday evening (Black Friday), I did not even watch a second of highlight reels, much less the actual game. It was more competitive than I had assumed it would be. Still, the end result was what was expected. A Chiefs win, and another Raiders loss. KC maintains the best record in the league (tied with Detroit) while the Raiders (along with the Giants and Jax) have the worst record in the league. Statistically, the game was fairly well even. If anything, the Silver and Black held slight advantages in both first downs produced, as well as time of possession. Hell, they even had a sizable advantage in terms of overall yards by the offense. Still, the champion Chiefs find a way to win games when they do not play their best, and this one, apparently, was a case in point.
My Pick: Accurate
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