Thanksgiving Open Thread: NFL Tripleheader

This is it. On Thanksgiving, outside of spending time with the family, there is no place anyone would rather be than watching NFL action all day long. And what action the NFL has put on today!

Firstly, let all of us here at APC wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving. I will be with my family today and not able to post, but I am making this for the rest of us here to post on this holiday.

There are three games on Thanksgiving, keeping a tripleheader tradition that started in 2006. I will post TV channels and game times for all three games, so you know where to turn the TV to in order to watch the games.

Firstly, the Detroit Lions host the Houston Texans at 12:30 PM EST/11:30 CST on CBS. The Lions are in a Thanksgiving freefall and have not won on the holiday since the 2003 season. The Houston Texans, meanwhile, are making their first Thanksgiving appearance in team history. This is also the first appearance on Thanksgiving for an NFL team from Houston since 1992, when the Houston Oilers visited the Dallas Cowboys and won 27-14.

Houston is coming off a hair-raising home overtime victory over Jacksonville while the Lions got what can be considered a rude reminder of Thanksgiving 2011. Nearly a year after the Packers went into Detroit on Thanksgiving and won 27-15 at Ford Field, the Packers again went into Detroit and beat the Lions 24-20, effectively ending Detroit's season and sealing their already slim playoff hopes.

Next, the Dallas Cowboys host the Washington Redskins at 4:15 PM EST/3:15 PM CST on FOX. Washington hasn't played on Thanksgiving since 2002, when they lost at Dallas 27-20. Dallas, meanwhile, has been somewhat inconsistent on Thanksgiving after several straight routs a few years ago, and they barely beat a weak Miami Dolphins team last year.

Washington clobbered the collapsing Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday while the Cowboys had to go to overtime in Cowboys Stadium to outlast and beat the weak Cleveland Browns.

Finally, the New England Patriots visit the New York Jets at 8:20 PM EST/7:20 PM CST on NBC. Note the channel change--NFL Network sold the rights to covering the third Thanksgiving game to NBC in the offseason.

The Patriots' last appearance on Thanksgiving was in 2010, when they fell behind early only to clobber the Detroit Lions 45-24. The Jets, meanwhile, also appeared on Thanksgiving in 2010, when they hosted the Bengals in the third game and won 26-10.

The Patriots are coming off a rout of the Indianapolis Colts in Foxboro while the Jets went into St. Louis and beat the Rams 27-13 in the only upset of this past week of NFL action.

As always, game chat, predictions, and commentary are welcome. Happy Thanksgiving, APC, as well as everyone around SB Nation. Have a happy and safe holiday, and I will see you around APC and elsewhere after the holiday.

And Kevin, I believe I speak on behalf of all of us here when I say we are all thankful to you for giving us Packers fans the best blog there is.