NFL Thanksgiving winners and losers: Dolphins’ cold-weather blues continue, Lions’ defensive front dominates

We here at CBS Sports hope you and yours had a fantastic Thanksgiving complete with food, family and successful parlays. There was plenty of action in the NFL to digest on Thursday, as the Chicago Bears‘ comeback bid vs. the Detroit Lions came up short, Rico Dowdle and DeMarvion Overshown led the Dallas Cowboys to victory over the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers rolled to a relatively easy victory over the visiting Miami Dolphins. 

Who stood out on Thanksgiving? Below, we will break down some Turkey Day winners and losers.  

Winner: Lions defensive front

The Lions as a whole did not have the most impressive performance in the win over the Bears, but this defensive front was dominant. Not only did Detroit hold D’Andre Swift to 39 yards on 11 carries, but according to Next Gen Stats, Za’Darius Smith (8), Al-Quadin Muhammad (7) and DJ Reader (7) all set or tied season highs in pressures. This was just the second game this season a team has had three players with seven or more pressures. Reader recorded two sacks, Smith had 1.5 and Muhammad had one. 

The Lions also pressured Caleb Williams on 17 dropbacks without blitzing, which was their most non-blitz pressures in a game in the Dan Campbell era.

Loser: Matt Eberflus 

After getting outscored 16-0 in the first half, the Bears put together a nice second-half comeback. Chicago went on a 20-7 run, and was even in position to tie the game or potentially win it late. However, Eberflus’ clock management ruined Chicago’s chances.

Down three points, the Bears had the ball at the Lions’ 25-yard line with less than a minute to go. Williams missed DJ Moore on first down, and Eberflus spent his second timeout with the clock already stopped. A Teven Jenkins penalty on second down pushed the Bears 10 yards back, and then Williams was sacked on the ensuing second-and-20. 

Williams was sacked with about 33 seconds remaining. He attempted to rush his teammates to the line of scrimmage and call a play no-huddle, but didn’t get the ball snapped until there were six seconds left in the fourth quarter. His deep pass attempt to Rome Odunze that fell incomplete ended up being the final play of the game.

It’s pretty wild that Eberflus did not want to use that last timeout to reset his offense following the sack. The Bears should have called a timeout after the sack, dialed up a play to pick up 5 yards or so on the third-and-26, then run the special teams unit out and kick the game-tying field goal. There was enough time for that. What’s even more wild is that Eberflus told reporters afterward that he believes they handled the situation the right way.

“Our hope was, because it was third [down] going into fourth, that we would re-rack that play at 18 seconds, throw it inbounds, get into field goal range and then call the timeout,” Eberflus said, via NFL.com. “That’s where it was and that was our decision-making process on that. Again, we were outside the field goal range, so we needed to get a few more yards in there, as close as we can get, and then we were going to call a timeout, and that’s why we held that last timeout.”

Eberflus also added: “I like what we did there. Again, once it’s under 12 [seconds] there, you’re going to call timeout there, you don’t have an option. … To me, I think we handled it the right way. I do believe you re-rack the play, get it in-bounds and then call timeout. That’s why we held it and it didn’t work out the way we wanted it to.”

Winner: DeMarvion Overshown

The second-year player out of Texas scored his first career touchdown after tipping up a screen pass in the air, and then catching it and taking it 23 yards to the house in the second quarter of the Cowboys’ Thanksgiving matchup vs. the Giants:

Then, in the third quarter, Overshown recovered a Drew Lock fumble to set up the Cowboys with fantastic field position. According to CBS Sports Research, Overshown is the first Cowboy to record a pick six and a fumble recovery in the same game since 2002.

Loser: CeeDee Lamb Fantasy owners

Lamb was noticeably absent in the second half, and you have to wonder if he reaggravated the sprained AC joint he suffered in the Week 9 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. He finished the game with two receptions for 39 yards. 

Loser: Shaq Barrett

How is Shaquil Barrett a loser on Thanksgiving? Isn’t he that former Pro Bowl pass rusher who retired in the summer?

Earlier this week, it was reported that Barrett had applied for reinstatement after hanging up the cleats in July. However, the Miami Dolphins own his rights. On Thursday, NFL Media reported the Dolphins had elected to not activate Barrett off the reserve/retired list, meaning he will not play for Miami this season. The Dolphins also reportedly do not intend to release him, meaning Barrett can’t play for another franchise as teams gear up for playoff pushes.

It appears Barrett may have waited too long to attempt his NFL comeback. The Dolphins aren’t going to allow him to just sign with another team this late in the year. 

Winner: Jordan Love 

While injuries have dampened his season a bit, Love continues to shine when healthy. He did so again on Thursday night, completing 75% of his passes that included a pair of touchdowns to Jayden Reed. All told, Love threw for 274 yards on 21 of 28 passing and was not sacked. 

Loser: Tyreek Hill 

Hill finished with a solid stat line of six receptions (on nine targets) for 83 yards and a score. But most of those numbers were accumulated when the Dolphins were already trailing by double digits late in the second half. Hill has not had over 100 receiving yards in a game since Week 1. That needs to change if the Dolphins are going to make a run during the season’s final five weeks. 

Winner: Quay Walker 

The Packers linebacker was all over the field as he tied for the team lead with 10 tackles. Walker recorded one of the game’s biggest plays when he sacked Tagovailoa on fourth-and-goal with Miami threatening to make it a one-possession game early in the fourth quarter. 

Loser: Miami Dolphins 

The Dolphins have now lost 12 consecutive games that have been played when the temperature at kickoff was 40 degrees or colder. Tagovailoa fell to 0-5 in such games, but his performance on Thursday night was nothing short of masterful. Despite Hill and Jayden Waddle being bottled up and having no semblance of a running game, Tagovailoa still threw for 365 yards and two touchdowns on 37 of 46 passing.