Written by TZ McD at Gunaxin
The NFL has been playing games on Thanksgiving day since 1920. They have been playing them consistently, every single year, since 1945 making it the longest running holiday tradition in professional football history. (No games were played between 1941-1944 due to World War II)
Eventually it evolved into a Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions showdown almost every single year. In fact, the first meeting between the two teams was in 1951 and started a streak of 13 consecutive seasons of head to head play. At one time, the NFL had two games from each league. It only lasted a few seasons before heading back to a more traditional two games on Thanksgiving Day.
As of 2006, the NFL has moved it to three games so you are enjoying turkey, friends, family, and football all day long. That is, unless you’re a Jacksonville Jaguars fan. They are the only active NFL team without making a Turkey day appearance.
To honor one of the best sports holidays, we have built a lineup of players that have played at least once on Thanksgiving Day since 1945. For this list we are not judging players strictly on their performances on Turkey day but we will include their statistics from the games they did star in.
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