NFL Thanksgiving Day games history: Lions, Cowboys

For the average citizen in the United States, I'm sure I'm saying something that everyone reading this already knows, the special date of Thanksgiving involves many things, however, there are two that are almost mandatory: eating turkey and watching NFL football, the second tradition involves watching first the Detroit Lions and then the Dallas Cowboys playing their home games and it seems to have been around forever.

But it's fair to ask: Who decided that it would be the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys who would be fortunate enough to be seen year, after year, after year at the second most famous event of the NFL regular season after the Super Bowl?

The tradition began with the Lions in 1932

Well, this story begins in 1932, when businessman G.A. Richards bought a team called the Portsmouth Spartans, located in the cradle state of professional soccer, Ohio, and decided to move them to a city without a team, Detroit, which was growing by leaps and bounds due to Henry Ford and the automobile industry. He renamed the team the Lions and, to get local attention, he asked the league to schedule a team game in the "Motor City" for Thanksgiving.

The NFL, which was 12 years old at the time, loved the idea and set them up against the best team of the time, the two-time defending champions, the Chicago Bears.

The game ended with a victory for the "Windy City" by a score of 19-16 on November 29 of that year before 26,000 fans that packed the University of Detroit Stadium, since then, because it was voluntary, the tradition was respected and the Lions have played every year on Thanksgiving, despite most of the time being the laughing stock of the league, except in the editions from 1939 to 1944 when the game was suspended due to World War II.

The Cowboys joined in 1966

It's no secret that the most popular team and the most valuable franchise in the NFL is the Dallas Cowboys, but it wasn't always that way and Thanksgiving had a lot to do with it.

Let's go back to 1966, the season in which the first Super Bowl was held, when the Cowboys had no national interest because they had been founded six years earlier and were not a winning team, in search of growth the team's General Manager, Tex Schramm asked the league for a game for that date, the NFL was doubtful, but accepted and the team put 80,259 in the Cotton Bowl to face the mighty Cleveland Browns whom they beat 26-14 on November 24 of that year.

The Cowboys were also pioneers in being the first team with cheerleaders and the famous "Cowgirls" took the big national stage from that year onwards at Thanksgiving except for the 1975 and 1977 editions.

The third game since 2006

In addition, the NFL introduced, starting in 2006, a third night game where all other teams may be eligible to host the long-awaited game.

As for the records of both teams in their Thanksgiving home games, the Detroit Lions have accumulated 37 wins, 42 losses and two ties, while the Dallas Cowboys have 31 wins, 21 losses and one tie.

This year's games scheduled for Thursday, November 25 are as follows:

Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions (12:30 ET on Fox).

Las Vegas Raiders at Dallas Cowboys (16:30 ET on CBS).

Buffalo Bills at New Orleans Saints (20:20 ET on NBC).

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