One of the best holidays of the year is finally upon us.  Thanksgiving is known for turkey, pumpkin pie, family and of course football!  This year’s slate of games is a little underwhelming as Oakland and Detroit are both involved.  But what do we do to make a boring football game more exciting? That’s right we bet on it!!

Green Bay Packers  -11 O/U 47.5 @ Detroit Lions  12:30pm

In case you haven’t been paying attention for the last 10 years Detroit is a terrible team.  In the late 90s and early 2000’s the Lions used to play at a higher level on Thanksgiving day and actually give their opponents a game.  This has not been the case lately as they have failed to cover on Thanksgiving day the last 5 years.  I expect more the same to happen this year as Green Bay has a good passing attack while Detroit’s secondary is non existent ranking 32nd in the NFL.  Green Bay has the 7th ranked Offense and Passing attacking in the NFL and Aaron Rodgers should feast on the Lions Thursday.  A large part of the Lions’ woes are a result of their inability to get pressure on the QB.  They only have 18 sacks on the season and rank 24th in that category.  This is a great thing for the Packers as they have struggled with pass protection all season long.  They will not need to worry about pass protection in this game though.  Throw in the fact that Lions’ QB Matt Stafford is unlikely to play and WR Calvin Johnson is banged up the Detroit Lions will struggle to get points on the board.  Lay the 11 pts and take Green Bay.

Oakland Raiders @ Dallas Cowboys -13.5 O/U 40 4:15pm

In the afternoon game we have the Dallas Cowboys hosting the Oakland Raiders.  The Raiders may have found some magic with Bruce Gradkowski replacing the horrible Jamarcus Russell at QB…but I doubt it.  Gradkowski’s career 52.9 Comp %, 11 TDs to 16 INTs and 59.9 Passer Rating seem to suggest that the Raiders will continue to struggle at the QB position.  The bad news for the Oakland Raiders is that Dallas comes in with the 7th best rushing defense in the league and this is what the Raiders do best.  When the Raiders fall behind they will be relying on Gradkowski to bring them back which is a scary thought.  My #1 rule with betting on football is do not take a shitty QB on the road.  Bruce fits that description.  On the other side of the ball Oakland sports the 30th ranked rushing defense in the league.  They gave up 119 yards to Bernard Scott last week.  I think Dallas’ trio of Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice will carve up Oakland’s defense all day where Romo does not have to rely on his sub par receiving corp.  I expect Dallas will win the turnover battle and come out fired up to maintain their NFC East division lead and handily beat the Oakland Raiders.  Lay the 13.5 and take the Cowboys.

New York Giants -6.5 O/U 42 @ Denver Broncos 8:20pm

In the late game of the day the New York Giants travel to Denver to take on the Broncos.  The Broncos are reeling after 4 straight losses to follow up their 6 straight wins.  Kyle Orton is banged up with foot injury and is probable for the game.  Since when did we decide Kyle Orton was a good quarterback?  Do we remember how bad he was in Chicago?  I think Denver is starting to be exposed for the real team that they are after their hot start.  In their last 4 games they have failed to score more that 17 points while giving up an average of 28 points.  Also, 3 of their wins are against Oakland, Cleveland and a last second miracle play by Brandon Stokely in the season opener against Cincinnati.  New York on the other hand stopped their own 4 game skid with an OT win over Atlanta last week where they came off a bye week.  I am looking for the Giants to keep the momentum going and pull out the W in Denver.  If the Giants can get back any of their defensive dominance they have displayed the last couple years I think they will win this game easily.  My pick is to lay the points and take New York -6.5.

Get in on all the action at Sportsbook.com.  Just don’t forget to give thanks to me when you go 3-0 this Thursday.