NFL Thanksgiving Day grades: Vikings, Kirk Cousins get prime-time ‘A-‘; Cowboys, Bills shine in comebacks

The NFL certainly had a strong Thanksgiving slate in store this season, which made the annual holiday games even better than most years. Five of the six teams had winning records headed into their Thanksgiving Day games, tying a league-high set in 2011 and 2014 (the NFL started having three Thanksgiving Day games in 2006). 

The combined record of the six teams playing this Thanksgiving is 39-21, and the .650 win percentage between the teams is the second-highest since the Thanksgiving schedule went to three games. The highest win percentage was .682 in 2011.

Fans were treated to a thriller in the first game of the day, as Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills held off the Detroit Lions with a last-second field goal in a back-and-forth affair that was a Thanksgiving classic. In the second game, the Dallas Cowboys came back from a halftime deficit to sweep the New York Giants behind big games from CeeDee Lamb and Ezekiel Elliott. And in the nightcap, Kirk Cousins played well in the prime-time lights — as did Justin Jefferson — as the Vikings beat the Patriots to go to 9-2. Here are our grades for every team that played on Thanksgiving:

Buffalo 28-25 over Detroit

Bills-Lions grades by Jeff Kerr (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)

Dallas 28-20 over New York Giants

Giants-Cowboys grades by Bryan DeArdo (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)

Minnesota 33-26 over New England

Patriots-Vikings grades by Tyler Sullivan (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)