NFL Week 12: Schedule, scores, odds, picks, top moments, and everything to know

Three Thanksgiving matchups between division rivals will make for an interesting start to Week 12 in the NFL.

Thanksgiving week is one of the greatest weeks of the year for football fans because in addition to having a full day of NFL action on Sunday, there’s also three back-to-back games on Thursday to help you avoid talking to your family.

Thanksgiving games

Bears vs. Lions, Washington vs. Cowboys, and Falcons vs. Saints are the Thanksgiving games to look forward to. The Bears, Saints, and Washington are all in first place in their respective divisions, but Washington could lose that designation with a loss to the second-place Cowboys. Washington will be playing with backup quarterback Colt McCoy following Alex Smith’s season-ending leg injury. He won’t be the only backup playing on Thursday as the Bears will likely be starting Chase Daniel as Mitchell Trubisky is having shoulder issues following last Sunday night’s game against the Vikings. The 9-1 Saints have been providing some of the best entertainment in the NFL and since the Falcons defense is pretty ~~banged up~~ bad, Drew Brees should find quite a bit of success at home in New Orleans.

Odds and expert picks

All of our expert game pickers are going with the Cowboys and Saints to win, though the coin flip went with both Washington and the Falcons. Everyone went with the Patriots over the Jets and only the coin choice the Cardinals over the Chargers.

Get all of our Week 12 picks here.

What to watch for

The Colts rank second in the NFL with only 10 sacks allowed this season and have not given up a sack in five consecutive games. On Sunday against the Dolphins, the Colts can become the fourth team to allow zero sacks in six consecutive games within a single season since 1963 when team sacks became an official statistic. The teams with the most consecutive games without allowing a sack in a season since 1963 are the Dolphins (1988, 12), Washington (1991, 8), and the Dolphins (1989, 7).

On the other side of the equation, Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers recorded a sack last week and has 158.5 sacks during his 17-year NFL career. With two sacks on Sunday against the Seahawks, Peppers would surpass Pro Football Hall of Famer Kevin Greene(160 sacks) for the third-most sacks since 1982 when the individual sack became an official statistic.

Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evansleads Tampa Bay with 957 receiving yards this season. With 43 yards on Sunday against the 49ers, Evans can join Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss (six consecutive seasons) and A.J. Green (five consecutive seasons) as the only players in NFL history with at least 1,000 receiving yards in each of their first five seasons.

The Vikings are back on Sunday Night Football for the second week in a row and again will play one of their NFC North rivals. This time, it’s the Packers and Aaron Rodgers is going into the game having thrown 26 touchdowns against zero interceptions for a 115.6 passer rating in his past 10 games against the NFC North. Rodgers needs three touchdown passes without an interception to have the most consecutive touchdowns without an interception by a player against any division since 2002.