NFL T-Day game picks

In the spirit of the holiday upon us, I will be thankful for being able to pick the three winners on this festive Thursday slate of games. Thankfulness is always an appropriate response when a gift is bestowed. Since I have to pick these three games with three less days of analysis available, it will be a gift if I were to pick them right. I can just about guarantee that if I were allowed to make these three picks on Friday or Saturday, I would get all three right. On to the picks!!!

Miami at Detroit
Here is a traditional Turkey Day matchup that this year is all turkey and no matchup. Detroit may have settled in as the worst team in the NFL. I said may. I hedge that bet because at last check, the Raiders are still in the NFL (I kid the Raiders, but they love it). Midseason relegation to the CFL is not happening yet (I kid the CFL. They are not so amused).

Miami is one of the teams I have identified as one on the rise. They still reside in a tie for last in their division with Buffalo. So Buffalo better win this week if they want to stay in that tie. Yes, Miami will go on the road, on a major holiday, and beat Detroit.

Tampa Bay at Dallas
Dallas is the other traditional T-Day game host. This is a tradition so old that no one remembers why its a tradition. In my opinion, that is when you re-examine a tradition and make some changes. It had been a tradition in the land to start the "Christmas Season" after Thanksgiving. That was apparently re-examined in the recent past and not the "Christmas Season" begins after Halloween. So everything is subject to change. Anything that makes Dallas less relevant is fine by be.

Dallas knocked off Indy last week. If Dallas wins this game it means that I would still pick it wrong if I picked it on Friday. I just want Tampa to win sooooo badly. I think they deserve it because they try hard and when they are losing, we have see "Gruden Face" for three hours. Not a good Thanksgiving meal appetizer. Go Tampa Bay!

Denver at Kansas City
Hey look, a new tradition is started! Its a third T-Day game. And its being shown on the NFL Network. Have you heard of that? Can you get that on your home television system? Will anyone still be awake to watch it after all that food? Aren't we traditionally napping at this time? The NFL started its own network this year, and rumor has it that they want to do their own broadcasting of the games after the current TV deals expire. So they gotta get their network on all the cable systems. So they are hoping if you don't have it on yours, you will call and complain to your cable company, otherwise you can't see this game. Ok, maybe you don't really care about THIS game, but its the foreshadowing of ALL games being on NFL Network, meaning the ones you do want to see.

In a not so subtle move that shows how the NFL flexes, the two early games on the other networks are duds, with only one winning record and not even a good rivalry OR intra division matchup. This game has all that, and interesting head coaches, one of the best home crowds in the game, and its in "Prime Time". It won't have Madden's 18 legged turkey, but that's about all this one is missing.

For the game itself it comes down to this. Denver lost a tough one to San Diego so they should be hurting for a win, and coming off a game in which their level of play had to be high they will no doubt have that high level of play ready to go. Kansas City just barely beat the Raiders. So they think they can win, but at what level are they grooved into? If that made any sense at all and you know what I'm trying to say, you can skip the next sentence and go get a snack. To put it simply, the Denver Horsies will win this game.

There you have it. I just picked all three road teams. I'll let you know after the games how I would have picked them if I had that few extra days to do the analysis.

Happy Turkey Day, y'all.