• Loading stock data...
Thursday, August 14, 2025
Stephen A. Smith vs Clay Travis at Tuned In on September 16 in NYC. Don’t miss it. Buy tickets now!

Lions Could Turn Tables by Eclipsing Cowboys Ratings on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving traditions that extend to NFL viewership could be upended as Dallas struggles and Detroit soars.

Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

The late-afternoon Thanksgiving NFL game featuring the Cowboys is typically the league’s most-watched regular-season contest each year. That perennial status, however, faces some new obstacles in 2024 that may at least suspend that standing. 

The 4–7 Cowboys face the 2–9 Giants at 4:30 p.m. ET on Thursday on Fox, marking one of the weakest matchups in years for the showcase holiday time slot. Even after a wild 34–26 victory over the Commanders on Sunday, Dallas is entering Thanksgiving with a roster marred by injuries and its worst record at this point since 2020. Before this season, the team reached the playoffs in four of the last six seasons and six of the last 10, remaining both one of the NFL’s most popular franchises and one of its most reliably competitive. 

Several impactful things have happened in recent months, however. In addition to the Cowboys’ precipitous slide, the team has lost its status as the NFL’s top viewership draw to the two-time defending champion Chiefs. The 10–1 Lions, meanwhile, have soared to become the betting favorite to win Super Bowl LIX, and Detroit approaches its early-afternoon Thanksgiving game against the Bears at a historical high point for the franchise.

So can the Lions in the early window attract a bigger television audience than the Cowboys in the later one? That hasn’t happened in the two daytime Thanksgiving NFL games since 2007, long before the arrival of out-of-home measurement that has reshaped viewership metrics. But there has not been as stark a juxtaposition between Dallas and Detroit in modern history. 

Over at the Meadowlands

The Giants, meanwhile, have their own malaise, having been booed off their home MetLife Stadium field on Sunday following an ugly 30–7 loss to the Buccaneers. Thursday’s game in Dallas is the same late-afternoon Thanksgiving matchup as in 2022. But that game two years ago featured two 7–3 teams that each would ultimately reach the second round of the playoffs, and the matchup drew an average audience of 42 million that remains the NFL’s most-watched regular-season game on record

For the 2024 holiday game, though, draft position in the spring is the truest prize on the line for the Cowboys and Giants, particularly as both teams’ starting quarterbacks are either hurt or have been released, leaving the expected matchup one of backup signal-callers: Cooper Rush and Tommy DeVito. 

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

Jan 13, 2025; Glendale, AZ, USA; Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores against the Los Angeles Rams during an NFC wild card game at State Farm Stadium.

Brian Flores Discrimination Suit Against NFL Can Go to Trial, Court Says

An appeals court ruled the NFL cannot compel Flores into arbitration.
Nov 30, 2017; Arlington, TX, USA; General overall view of the Dallas Cowboys logo at midfield during an NFL football game between the Washington Redskins and the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.

Arlington Pays Off Its Cowboys Stadium Debt 10 Years Early

Another major NFL venue retires its public debt far ahead of schedule.
Cincinnati Bearcats quarterback Brendan Sorsby (2) attempts to gain possession of the ball against West Virginia Mountaineers players in the second quarter of a college football game between the Cincinnati Bearcats and West Virginia Mountaineers, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati.

Power 4’s Next Era: Will Player Availability Reports Fuel Betting Ties?

The Big 12 became the final Power 4 conference to require injury reports.
Michgan football
exclusive

Fox Unlikely to Let ESPN Use Big Ten Games for College Football..

The network doesn’t want to cannibalize its own rights, sources say.

Featured Today

Bridgewater American 12U Little League player Micah Poulter holds a District 7 pin during a send-off rally to the New England regional tournament in Bristol, Connecticut, from Legion Field on Friday, August 2, 2024.

Inside the Little League World Series Pin Trade

The rare little collectibles fuel a frenzy in Williamsport each summer.
Schultz of Israel-Premier Tech
August 12, 2025

Rice Krispies Treats Are Upending the Billion-Dollar Athlete-Fuel Wars

The world’s most elite athletes are eating like first graders.
Dec 14, 2019; Philadelphia, PA, USA; President Donald Trump wave during the second quarter of the game between the Navy Midshipmen and the Army Black Knights at Lincoln Financial Field
August 9, 2025

‘Political Gold’: Trump Putting His Stamp on College Sports 

Trump has embraced executive action on hot-button college sports issues.
August 3, 2025

Inked Under Anesthesia: Athletes Getting $50,000 Tattoos

High-end studios, elite artist teams, and hours under anesthesia.
Jul 19, 2025; New Orleans, Louisiana, UNITED STATES; Dan Ige (red gloves) fights against Patricio Pitbull (blue gloves) during UFC 318 at Smoothie King Center.

Why Paramount Deliberately Overpaid for UFC Media Rights

Analysts and experts agree the deal is a huge win for UFC.
Jan 12, 2025; Orchard Park, New York, USA; CBS Sports field reporter Tracy Wolfson interviews Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) following a win over the Denver Broncos in an AFC wild card game at Highmark Stadium.
August 12, 2025

CBS Sports Chief on Paramount Owners: ‘They Value Sports’

Network officials cite the UFC deal as immediate proof of corporate priorities.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during the Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2024 Enshrinees Gold Jacket Dinner at the Canton Civic Center, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024.
exclusive
August 13, 2025

Roger Goodell Addresses ESPN Employees After NFL Deal

Triple H was on the call, too.
Sponsored

‘Run With the Competition’: Ultra Trail Runner Lotti Brinks Is Back With..

Ultrarunner Lotti Brinks is ready to make her first Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix podium in her HOKA Mafate 5s.
August 12, 2025

NBA Doubles Down on MLK Day Amid NFL Christmas Competition

NBC also announced the first NBA games that will be exclusively streamed.
August 12, 2025

Tom Brady Opens Up on ‘Growing Pains’ in First Fox Season

Brady said he was “way more comfortable” by the time he called Super Bowl LIX.
August 12, 2025

NBC Extends U.S. Open Media-Rights Deal Through 2032

One of golf’s four major championships is staying on NBC.
Taylor Swift
August 12, 2025

Taylor Swift on ‘New Heights’ Could Test Sports Podcast Ceiling

It could be the most-consumed podcast ever.