Nov 27, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; A general view as sundays enter AT&T Stadium in the second quarter as the Philadelphia Eagles play on Thanksgiving day against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. The Eagles beat the Cowboys 33-10. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Eagles-Cowboys will talk turkey as the rivals are set to meet on Thanksgiving
Tell grandma that the Thanksgiving turkey better be ready early this year, because the Eagles and Cowboys are playing.
As the release of the NFL schedule inches closer (Thursday at 8PM, although it will likely leak earlier) some specialty games will be announced sooner.
For the Eagles, that kicked off Monday afternoon when it was announced that they’d be headed down to Dallas for a rivalry game while we are all eating our yams and cranberry sauce.
The game will air on FOX and will kickoff at 4:30 p.m.
It’s the first time the Birds and the Boys will meet on Thanksgiving since 2014 when Mark Sanchez led the Eagles to a 33-10 victory. LeSean McCoy and Jeremy Maclin had a big day while Cody Parkey made four field goals.
That wasn’t the Eagles most recent Thanksgiving appearance, though.
The following year, they played in Detroit against the Lions and were smoked 45-14 in Chip Kelly’s final season as head coach.
However, that was the only time the Eagles ever lost on Thanksgiving. Philadelphia is 4-1 all-time on Turkey Day.
They won their only home Thanksgiving Day game in 2008, crushing the Arizona Cardinals 48-20. (The Cardinals would exact revenge in a surprise meeting in the NFC Championship Game). The Eagles also defeated the Cowboys 27-0 in Bounty Bowl I in 1989, when Reggie White was awarded the first ever turkey leg award as player of the game by CBS broadcasting legend John Madden.
The game was dubbed Bounty Bowl I because then Eagles coach Buddy Ryan had allegedly put bounties on both Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman ($500) and kicker Luis Zendejas ($200), who the Eagles had cut earlier in the season.
Linebacker Brit Hager hit Aikman after the whistle in the first half and special teams linebacker Jessie Small knocked Zendejas silly with a block on the opening kickoff of the second half.
It setup Bounty Bowl II at Veterans Stadium two weeks later and the fans were the ones doing all the dirty work following a snow and ice storm.
This video does a decent job detailing that sequence of games.
The Eagles also shut out the Lions 12-0 on Thanksgiving Day, 1968. There’s no video of that snoozer online. Maybe that’s for the best.
