Pro Bowl center Nick Mangold of the New York Jets has a date with the Patriots Monday night. Two Fridays ago, he met with another foe, a fowl foe.

Happy holidays NFL fans everywhere! I’m Ralph Lanier Jr., your NFL Director of Fandemonium. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this year. I just returned home from my fourth experience, this time in New York for the Thanksgiving night game between the Cincinnati Bengals and New York Jets.

Eli Manning‘s childhood Thanksgivings went as you might expect: turkey and gravy and all the fixings, a few passes in the backyard with his dad and his brothers, and of course football on TV. Eli’s favorite part of the backyard game wasn’t playing quarterback though, it was “making spectacular catches against my brothers.” Who inspired him to make his awesome moves against the other Mannings? Not a receiver. Actually, Eli’s motivation came from watching a running back, Hall of Famer Barry Sanders, shake off defenders. We spoke to a number of players this week and asked them about some of their favorite Thanksgiving memories. The Sidelines Blog will be featuring several of these players’ stories as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches. Patriots [...]

On the heels of news earlier this week that the Jets would host the Week 1 Monday night game at the new stadium they will share with the Giants, the New York Daily News is reporting the team also will host the primetime game on Thanksgiving.

Drew Brees, who ranks in the top four in the NFL in passing yards, touchdown passes and completion percentage, recently visited the White House to shoot a Thanksgiving PSA with President Barack Obama.

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a full slate of football. The NFL will continue it’s annual Thanksgiving Day tradition, rolling out three games, starting at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Detroit has lost enough games this season, and now comes a potentially more crushing blow. Detroit is in jeopardy of losing its tradition of hosting a Thanksgiving Day game.