Week 12 NFL Announcing: Let the Tryptophan Embrace You

No holiday is more steeped in American tradition than Thanksgiving. Sure the Fourth of July has fireworks (and hot dogs) and Memorial Day and Labor Day have flag waving and piles of delicious grilled meats, but Thanksgiving offers something a little more traditional than those summer holidays – and no, I'm not talking about your creepy uncle who tells your sister how grown up she's getting every year (note to self: Never. Become. That. Uncle.)

No, what Thanksgiving offers that the other great American holidays do not ... well, that's football. And in the last few years, there's even more of it. The NFL Network, in all their additional games, did a wonderful thing a few years ago by adding a night game to the Thanksgiving slate. Look, some of us have to interact with our family in a room that doesn't have a TV and we end up missing a few hours of the afternoon games. But nothing is better than coming home all fat and nappy after a long day of stuffing, potatoes and pumpkin pie, putting the kids to bed and crashing on the couch with more football.

Thursday Games
When stuck with a heaping spoonful of Detroit Lions games on Thanksgiving, this year hosting the Packers, the Cowboys have usually been the main course. But with the Cowboys hosting the Raiders, there's a chance that both games could be snoozers, which is why the NFL Network game with the NY Giants at Denver should be the best of the three.

Bob Papa and Matt Millen get the late call on NFLN. I honestly don't know if NFLN insists on giving out a cheesy trophy like CBS and FOX do. Wikipedia says they give out the Pudding Pie Award which is just an actual pudding pie. Frankly, I've lost the battle to tryptophan around halftime each year, so I've never seen the end of an NFLN Thanksgiving game.

It was cute when John Madden gave out his 50-legged bird each year to share with the offensive or defensive linemen of the winning team. When Phil Simms started giving out his 'All Iron Award' on CBS a decade ago it was about as cheesy as someone thinking it would be a good idea to shape the award like an actual clothes-straightening iron. What does that have to do with Thanksgiving anyway? When Madden left FOX in 2002, the network converted his 'Turkey Leg Award' into the 'Galloping Gobbler' which is just as cheesy as an iron, yet immensely more topical.

But I digress. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman get the Packers at Lions in the early game (starting at 12:30 p.m.) and Jim Nantz and Phil Simms get the middle game with the Cowboys hosting the Raiders.

CBS on Sunday
Obviously with three games on Thursday and national games on Sunday and Monday night, the pickings are a bit slim on Sunday. CBS has five games on their schedule on Sunday, leading with Indianapolis at Houston with Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf. Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker get Miami at Buffalo while Ian Eagle and Rich Gannon get Cleveland at Cincinnati to round out the early games.

In the late games, Dick Enberg and Dan Fouts get Kansas City at San Diego while Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots get Jacksonville at San Francisco.

FOX on Sunday
FOX has six games on Sunday with the early slate featuring Washington at Philadelphia with Kenny, Moose and Goose on the call. The number of references to what Tony Siragusa ate on Thanksgiving is set at 20. Dick Stockton and Charles Davis get Tampa Bay at Atlanta, Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick get Carolina at the Jets and Ron Pitts and John Lynch get Seattle at St. Louis.

In the late games on FOX, Troy and Joe pull double duty this week, calling Chicago at Minnesota in a game that will go to nearly all of the country. Local pockets will get Arizona at Tennessee, which all of the sudden looks like the better game of the two, with Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan on the call.

Sunday National Games
The national games are clearly the best of the bunch this week, with Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth calling Pittsburgh at Baltimore on Sunday night for NBC. But the game of the week will come on Monday night when Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and Ron Jaworski call New England at New Orleans.

Map links and announce crew pairings courtesy of The 506.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving. And in honor of the fact that you're reading this on the day before Thanksgiving and undoubtedly counting the minutes before you can cut out early to beat traffic (note - you can't avoid it no matter how early you leave work), we'll give you two videos. First, Adam Sandler's classic Thanksgiving song. Second, let the holiday officially begin with a little life lesson from Charlie Brown:

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.