A tasty triple-header of Thanksgiving NFL action on Sky Sports sees the ‘New’ order of big guns looking to enhance their Super Bowl chances, with New England, New Orleans and the New York Jets all in action and well-fancied to win.
Our live action kicks-off with the Patriots taking the trip to Detroit to face Turkey Day regulars Detroit, but superstar quarterback Tom Brady could be in danger of missing that one.
Champions New Orleans make a visit to Dallas to face the resurgent Cowboys, but for the home side it looks like the visiting Saints could be the ones returning in early February for the Super Bowl in Jerry Jones’ shiny new mega-stadium.
Finally, the triple-header rounds off the with New York Jets, who have a been making a habit of winning games late on, visiting Cincinnati to face the hapless Bengals who are on a massive losing skid.
Brady is the big worry for New England as the Pats look to maintain their flying form with a win in Detroit, after beating big AFC rivals Pittsburgh and Indianapolis in the last two weeks.
Brady hurt
Brady has missed practice twice during the short week after Sunday’s win over the Colts, and although he is listed as questionable for the Lions game due to a foot injury don’t expect Tom Terrific to miss out unless he can hardly walk.
In Dallas, the home fans had hoped by now to be warming to the hope of their team playing in a home Super Bowl, but that seems a mile off despite interim coach Jason Garrett winning his two games in charge up to now.
Marion Barber’s hair has been a touchy subject during the week, after Detroit’s Ndamukong Suh grabbed a handful during a tackle last week – hair pulling is not illegal in the NFL – but Barber says he won’t be visiting a barber and will have his flowing dreadlocks again on show.
Livewire back Reggie Bush could make a welcome return from injury for the Saints having been out since week two, but he is still listed as questionable – as is the Cowboys’ top rusher Felix Jones.
Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer is also a doubt for their game against the Jets as he too struggles with a foot injury, and if he is unable to suit-up his younger brother Jordan will make his first NFL start.
Bengals beat up
Cincinnati have big problems on defence with Tank Johnson on injured reserve and a heavily-depleted secondary not helping their bid to avenge last year’s defeats by the Jets, who are riding high again on 8-2.
Bengals wide receiver Terrell Owens has already engaged in some verbal jousting with Jets cornerback Darelle Revis, who is expected to cover him during the game.
“He came out and said that I was a slouch, myself and Randy,” Owens said. “I heard it. It’s in the back of my mind. As far as me being a slouch, that has never been anything to describe me.
“No disrespect. He’s only done one thing for one year. You talk about shutdown corners, you need to repeatedly do it year-in and year-out. I think he did it one year and everybody made a lot of hoopla about it. I think he started feeling himself, then he wanted to come out and say that I am a slouch.”
Expect plenty of trash talk and hard-hitting in that one, and in all three games as we bring you all of the Thanksgiving Day action live.
