We here at CBS Sports hope you and your family had a fantastic Thanksgiving filled with food, family and winning games. There was a lot of action in the to digest on Thursday, like that Chicago Bears'Comeback offer vs. the Detroit Lions fell short, Rico Dowdle And DeMarvion Overshowed led the Dallas Cowboys to victory over the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers rolled to a relatively easy win over the visiting Miami Dolphins.
Who stood out at Thanksgiving? Below we'll break down some of Turkey Day's winners and losers.
Winner: Lions Defensive Front
The Lions as a whole didn't have the most impressive performance in the win over the Bears, but that defensive front was dominant. Detroit didn't just hold D'Andre Swift for 39 yards on 11 carries, but according to Next Gen Stats, Za'Darius Smith (8), Al-Quadin Muhammad (7) and DJ Reader (7) all set or undecided season highs in print. This was only the second game this season in which a team had three players with seven or more pressures. The Reader recorded two sacks, Smith had 1.5 and Muhammad had one.
The Lions also applied pressure Caleb Williams on 17 dropbacks without blitzing, which was the most non-blitzing pressure in a game in the Dan Campbell era.
Loser: Matt Eberflus
After being outscored 16-0 in the first half, the Bears staged a nice comeback in the second half. Chicago went on a 20-7 run and was even in position to tie the game or possibly win it late. However, Eberflus' tactical management ruined Chicago's chances.
Trailing by three points, the Bears had the ball at the Lions' 25-yard line with less than a minute left. Williams missed DJ Moore on first down, and Eberflus spent his second timeout with the clock already stopped. A Teven Jenkins The penalty on second down pushed the Bears back 10 yards, and then Williams was sacked on the ensuing second-and-20.
Williams was sacked with about 33 seconds left. He tried to rush his teammates to the line of scrimmage and call a no-huddle play, but didn't manage to snap the ball until there were six seconds left in the fourth quarter. His deep pass attempt Rome Odunze that remained incomplete ended up being the last play of the game.
It's pretty crazy that Eberflus didn't want to use that final timeout to reset his offense after the sack. The Bears should have called a timeout after the sack, ran a play to gain about five yards on third-and-26, and then turned off the special forces team and kicked the game-winning field goal. There was enough time for that. What's even crazier is that Eberflus told reporters afterward that he believed they handled the situation correctly.
“Our hope was because it was third place [down] Going into the fourth, we would restart the game after 18 seconds, throw it in the ball, get into field goal range and then call timeout,” Eberflus said. via NFL.com. “There it was, and that was our decision-making process. Again, we were out of field goal range, so we had to get a few more yards in, as close as we could, and then we proceeded to call a timeout, and that's why we called that last timeout.”
Eberflus also added: “I like what we did there. Again, as soon as it’s under 12.” [seconds] There you call timeout, you have no other choice. … In my opinion we handled it correctly. I do believe that you restart the play, put it in play and then take a timeout. That's why we kept it and it didn't work out the way we wanted.
Winner: DeMarvion Overshown
The second-year Texas native scored his first career touchdown after throwing a pass in the air, then catching it and taking it 23 yards to the house in the second quarter of the Cowboys' Thanksgiving game against the Giants:
Then, in the third quarter, Overshown a recovered Drew Lock fumble to give the Cowboys fantastic field position. According to CBS Sports Research, Overshown is the first Cowboy since 2002 to record a pick six and a fumble recovery in the same game.
Loser: CeeDee Lamb Fantasy owner
Lamb was noticeably absent in the second half, and one has to wonder if he aggravated the AC joint sprain he suffered in the Week 9 loss Atlanta Falcons. He finished the game with two balls for 39 yards.
Loser: Shaq Barrett
How is Shaquil Barrett a loser on Thanksgiving? Isn't he the former Pro Bowl pass rusher who retired over the summer?
Earlier this week it was reported that Barrett had applied for reinstatement after hanging up his boots in July. However, that is Miami Dolphins own his rights. On Thursday, NFL Media reported The Dolphins had decided not to remove Barrett from the reserve/retired list, meaning he will not play for Miami this season. The Dolphins also reportedly have no intention of releasing him, meaning Barrett cannot play for another franchise as teams prepare for the playoffs.
It looks like Barrett waited too long to try Come back. The Dolphins won't allow him to simply sign with another team this late in the year.
While injuries have dampened his season somewhat, Love continues to shine when healthy. He did it again on Thursday night, completing 75% of his passes, including two touchdowns Jayden Reed. All told, Love threw for 274 yards on 21 of 28 passes and was not sacked.
Hill finished the game with solid stats of six receptions (on nine targets) for 83 yards and one score. However, most of those numbers were cumulative when the Dolphins were already down by double digits late in the second half. Hill hasn't had more than 100 yards in a game since Week 1. That has to change if the Dolphins want to make a run in the final five weeks of the season.
The Packers linebacker was all over the field as he tied for the team lead with 10 tackles. Walker recorded one of the best plays of the game when he sacked Tagovailoa in the fourth while Miami threatened to make it a one-possession game early in the fourth quarter.
Loser: Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins have now lost 12 straight games played when the temperature was 40 degrees or colder at kickoff. Tagovailoa fell to 0-5 in such games, but his performance on Thursday night was nothing short of masterful. Even though Hill and Jayden Waddle were under pressure and didn't have any semblance of a running game, Tagovailoa still threw for 365 yards and two touchdowns on 37 of 46 passes.
