The Pigsplosion will be coming in all of its glory later this week, but for today, we had to get our picks in to preserve them for posterity. They could be the key to the entire season!

Before the picks, I’ll link to an excerpt from last Thanksgiving, about football memories:

I don’t really remember many specifics about Thanksgiving day football games involving the Lions or the Cowboys when I was growing up during the 1980′s, but some of my fondest memories are of Thanskgiving Day Football.  I came from a large family with four uncles and fourteen cousins, so Thanksgiving was an event, and my grandparents had a yard the size of a football field to the west side of the house.  Bordered by the large garden on the far side (a source of hard work in the summer months picking okra and snapping green beans), and the picnic table and large swing on the near side, it provided plenty of room.  The end nearest the front of the house had a long row of tall hedges to provide a boundary, our version of “between the hedges”.  You had to be careful of the woodpile off to one corner of that endzone.  The other end was bordered by Winner Road and the backside of my grandfather’s sign shop.

It provided plenty of room for deep passes and runs across the field.  Two hand touch was the rule, though inevitably, the adults would try a little too hard.  I’m pretty sure I added a grass stain to every pair of jeans ever worn on Thanksgiving, and I was lucky if that was the worst of it–a few times it was a hole in the knee of those new jeans I was quickly growing out of anyway.

We get three games this year, as has been the norm, but all three look to at least be competitive games with some interesting story lines.

Thanksgiving Video:

Gobble gobble mother fucker.

Pick’emsplosion
Last week: CRM (5-7-1) — Lisk (7-5-1)
Overall: CRM (69-77-9) — Lisk (85-64-10)

Green Bay (-7) at Detroit
CRM: I have been told that this is finally the Thanksgiving game where Detroit competes. As I mentioned yesterday, they’ve lost by an average of 21 points over the last 7 Thanksgivings. Now, the game where they are supposed to compete and possibly win is against the undefeated defending Super Bowl champions. OK… (Packers -7)

Lisk: If you were going to circle any game for a Green Bay loss, it would be this one. Green Bay struggled here last year, and Rodgers left with a concussion (though they weren’t doing much when he was in the game). Detroit has a front four that can put pressure on Rodgers. You can run against the Lions, but with Starks banged up, and Grant past his expiration date, it will be interesting to see how effective/willing Green Bay is to run inside the edge rushers. I think the line is surprisingly high for me, and while I would make the Pack a slight favorite, think this one could go either way (Lions +7)

Miami (+7) at Dallas
CRM: One of my fondest Thanksgiving game memories is of Leon Lett’s second most infamous play. That was 18 years ago. Holy shit I’m old. (Cowboys -7)

Lisk: This one looked like nap opportunity a month ago, but Dolphins are rolling in off three straight wins. I’ll point out that they are coming off a game in which they won 35-8 while having 16 first downs and averaging 2.7 yards a carry. The margin was based on turnovers and third down (0 for 12 for Buffalo). Dolphins were undervalued during their poor start due to red zone regression likelihood, and are likely due for some regression now. (Dallas -7).

San Francisco (+3) at Baltimore
CRM: So I have to now to to the bar? Why would the NFL and Time Warner Cable expect me to get to a bar at the end of the biggest day-drinking holiday of the the year? It makes almost as little sense as the Baltimore Ravens. See what I did there? (49ers +3)

Lisk: Big Brother. Oh, and a 9-1 team getting points in what looks to be a close contest. (San Francisco +3)