Turkey Day prediction: Lions will finally win today

[RichardBak]

Close to kickoff here in Detroit. Today's game ain't exactly a reprise of the first Turkey Day game back in 1934, Bronko Nagurski vs. Dutch Clark, but hey, it's feetsball and family. The Lions, the league's last winless team (as they have been for the last few weeks), will prevail. I'm thinking by a score of 17-13, but that might just be the first glass of lime vodka talking.

Three games on the tube, pilgrims! Happy Thanksgiving to all!

[Brian wolf]

I agree, Richard ... no 0-16-1 record for this team !

[Brian wolf]

Only the Lions trying to stop the Bears on 3rd and 9 with nearly two minutes left, could get a penalty for calling consecutive timeouts to allow the game winning FG.

[RichardBak]

Yeeesh. I'm gonna have to get my 96-year-old mother to start saying novenas for these guys. Nothing short of divine intervention is gonna do it. And yeah, calling two consecutive timeouts at the end was quite a novelty.

[Sonny9]

Dec 2007 Washington v Buffalo Gibbs did it and it was a PF. The 51 yard FG turned into a 36 yarder. Game over 17-16 Buffalo. 5 FGs and a safety btw

[Jay Z]

Raiders vs. Cowboys featured 276 yards in penalties by both teams. 14th highest total of all time. Highest ever total in a game with no turnovers. There are some bad games on that penalties list, some strike replacement games, but #1 is 1951 Browns vs. Bears. Go figure.

[John Grasso]

Yeeesh. I'm gonna have to get my 96-year-old mother to start saying novenas for these guys. Nothing short of divine intervention is gonna do it. And yeah, calling two consecutive timeouts at the end was quite a novelty.

Two points -
1 - I don't understand what's so bad about consecutive timeouts.
2 - Aren't the officials supposed to ignore the request for the second timeout.
When they do acknowledge it, aren't they the ones at fault for doing so?

[JuggernautJ]

Raiders vs. Cowboys featured 276 yards in penalties by both teams. 14th highest total of all time....

If the game is so complicated as to be unplayable by the current rules then the rules need to be amended.
The Refs are like a third team out there nowadays... they effect the outcome of the game as much as the teams supposedly playing the game and often determine the outcome.
Many NFL games are nearly unwatchable because of this.

[Jay Z]

Raiders vs. Cowboys featured 276 yards in penalties by both teams. 14th highest total of all time....

If the game is so complicated as to be unplayable by the current rules then the rules need to be amended.
The Refs are like a third team out there nowadays... they effect the outcome of the game as much as the teams supposedly playing the game and often determine the outcome.
Many NFL games are nearly unwatchable because of this.

Most of the penalties are not new rules. The three penalties before the winning field goal... offsides has been around forever. Also pass interference.

The last 10 years, the rate and yardage have been a bit higher than some other eras. But the highest era was the late 1940s-early 1950s, with the highest ever game for yardage coming in 1951. The list of highest ever penalty yardage does contain some stinkers, like the 1976 Expansion bowl between the Seahawks and Buccaneers, and the 1987 strike replacement 6-3 game between the Giants and Bills. But there are some other games between good teams that are inexplicable.

I mentioned the zero turnovers because turnovers have been in decline in the league for decades.

[GameBeforeTheMoney]

Only the Lions trying to stop the Bears on 3rd and 9 with nearly two minutes left, could get a penalty for calling consecutive timeouts to allow the game winning FG.

It's like they invented a completely new way to lose.

After watching the NFL for 45 years or so, I thought I had seen all conceivable ways of losing. Can't remember seeing a team so disoriented that late in the game and this late in the season.