The first pieces of the NFL schedule are coming to light, including a report which indicates the Cowboys will likely be playing the Dolphins on Thanksgiving according to the Sports Business Journal. Quoting multiple sources, John Ourand has numerous tidbits about the coming 2019 schedule and how television networks have been vying for the big fish. He believes the Thursday night kickoff special will not feature the defending Super Bowl champion this year, but rather a historic matchup as the NFL continues it’s NFL 100 campaign starting with the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers renewing their historic rivalry. Ourand, who has broken a myriad of sports stories in the past, also notes due to ratings and disparity of high quality NFC games, the Cowboys could have a Fox game flexed to CBS, noting their games against the Packers and Saints as an option. This season, the NFC East (Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, Washington) plays the NFC North (Bears, Packers, Vikings, Detroit), which will lead to big ratings. Plus, the interconference games put many of the best games in the NFC pool (Dallas at New England; Green Bay at Kansas City; L.A. Rams at Pittsburgh), executives said. Because of that disparity, look for the NFL to crossflex more high-quality NFC games to CBS than it has in the past, including at least one Cowboys game. My bet is that CBS picks up the Cowboys-Packers game, but it could be the Cowboys-Saints. The Thanksgiving afternoon games likely will feature the Bears and Lions on Fox and the Dolphins and Cowboys on CBS. Dallas and the Dolphins have played five times on Thanksgiving: 1973, 1993, 1999, 2003, and 2011. None may be more memorable than the 1993 game which featured current defensive line coach Leon Lett muffing a blocked field goal in the snow, which led to a Dolphins game-winning field goal. The last time the Boys played the Dolphins on Thanksgiving was 2011, in a game the Cowboys won, 20-19. This game saw a Tony Romo game-winning drive and a Dan Bailey game-winning kick. In 2019 the names will be very different, but the Cowboys will be hoping for the result in the left-hand column of their record. Speaking of Romo, if the Cowboys do flex to CBS during the year, his familiar voice would likely be doing the color commentary along side Jim Nantz for multiple games. The Packers and Cowboys always seem to have an interesting game; The Saints and Cowboys have been recent rivals for the last decade since Sean Payton began coaching in the Big Easy. While the Cowboys’ appearance on Thanksgiving is a no-brainer, this marks just one of the many primetime games the team will be scheduled for. The team could see a second Thursday game, as Fox is interested in an even better slate for the mid-week contest than they had in 2018. In fact, Fox wants to be even more aggressive with its “Thursday Night Football” schedule this season.<doc-sep>This is an interesting decision by the NFL. There's a longstanding tradition in the NFL that has the Dallas Cowboys as a perennial Thanksgiving treat, football fans having now become accustomed to either cheering or jeering for America's Team as they consume large quantities of tryptophan and beer. The matchups may not always be enticing, but they're usually more competitive than not, and usually come with familiar teams being tasked with squaring up against the Cowboys. That probably won't be the case in 2019, however, if a recent report on the coming schedule holds true. According to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk, the NFL is looking to pit the Cowboys against the Miami Dolphins -- a battle rarely seen on Turkey Day. The last time the two met was back in 2011, when the former defeated the latter in a 20-19 nail biter. Despite the both being a part of the NFL since the 1960s, they have only five Thanksgiving Day battles, but a sixth appears to be on its way. They narrowly missed having one in 2015, when the Cowboys defeated the Dolphins to the tune of 24-14 on Nov. 22. There won't be a shortage of headlines when the two meet in 2019, whether it's on Nov. 21 or not. The Dolphins are coming off of a 7-9 season that led to the firing of head coach Adam Gase and the choice to replace him with New England Patriots' linebackers' coach Brian Flores. That decision process included an interview with Cowboys' passing game coordinator Kris Richard, whom the club also had as a frontrunner to land the job. While Richard will remain in Dallas, Scott Linehan -- ironically a former Dolphins' offensive coordinator -- will not, and quarterbacks coach Kellen Moore has been named his successor and is instantly saddled with a ton of impetus to fix the stagnant but talented offense in only his second year of coaching. Additionally, the Dolphins are expected to move on from franchise signal-caller Ryan Tannehill, begging the question of who'll start next season. The Cowboys would host the game, by the way. For the historians in the crowd, and those shrugging off the proposed matchup, it's key to note the Dolphins hold the Thanksgiving edge over the Cowboys with a 3-2 record that includes a 1993 victory that was sealed by the infamous decision from defensive lineman Leon Lett to touch the ball on the one-yard line following a blocked field goal. Notice how other Cowboys are telling their teammates to stay away, but Lett -- for whatever reason -- simply refused. In an additional twist of irony, yes, that is current Philadelphia Eagles' head coach Doug Pederson holding the kick for the Dolphins. It's still a play that boggles the minds of football fans who witnessed it, but the Cowboys got the last laugh by going on to win their second-consecutive Super Bowl while the Dolphins finished with a 9-7 record but no playoff berth. It's not the only play Lett would make in his career that caused a ton of head-scratching, but he'd ultimately end up a two-time pro bowler and has done great work as defensive line coach for the Cowboys -- leading to a contract re-up this offseason. The memories of yesteryear never die, though. Another weird aside involving the two teams? Jason Garrett has played for and coached on both teams, and narrowly missed being on the Dolphins' roster when they blew out the Cowboys in 2003 -- signing to Miami in 2004 as backup QB and becoming their QB coach in 2005 before re-joining the Cowboys as offensive coordinator only two seasons later. If that rapid fire player-to-coach arc sounds familiar, it should, because it's nearly a mirror of Moore's. Black mirror, indeed. The NFL will officially release schedules for all 32 teams in April, but at least we're beginning to get a bit of clarity on when certain matchups will take place.<doc-sep>The NFL is still a couple months away from releasing the full 2019 schedule, but bits and pieces are coming out. One pice: The traditional Detroit and Dallas Thanksgiving games will be the Bears against the Lions and the Dolphins against the Cowboys, according to Sports Business Daily. This would make it the second straight year that the Lions host the Bears on Thanksgiving. The Lions previously hosted the Vikings for two consecutive Thanksgivings, in 2016 and 2017. It would be the Dolphins’ sixth Thanksgiving visit to Dallas; they’ve previously been there on Thanksgiving in 1973, 1993, 1999, 2003 and 2011. The 1993 Dolphins-Cowboys Thanksgiving game is one of the most famous Thanksgiving games in NFL history, with the Dolphins winning on a last-second field goal after Cowboys defensive lineman Leon Lett fumbled the game away by muffing a blocked field goal. It’s the NFL’s 100th season, and the league is attempting to highlight matchups with historical significance, so it’s no surprise that an old rivalry like Bears-Lions and a Thanksgiving matchup with some tradition behind it like Dolphins-Cowboys would be on the schedule. There’s no word yet on what the third Thanksgiving game, on NBC in prime time, will be.<doc-sep>
The 2019 NFL schedule won't be released anytime soon, but it appears the league has already made at least one key decision in regards to next season's slate of games. According to the Sports Business Journal, the NFL has tentatively picked the four teams that will be playing during the afternoon on Thanksgiving Day. Two of those teams will be the Cowboys and Lions, which comes as no surprise, since they always play on Thanksgiving. According to SBJ, the other two teams will likely be Miami and Chicago. The Dolphins will travel to Dallas in Week 13 for a Thanksgiving showdown on Nov. 28 while the Bears will head to Detroit to face the Lions on Turkey Day for the second year in a row. With the NFL getting set to celebrate its 100th anniversary during the 2019 season, it makes some sense that the league is sending the Dolphins to Dallas. For one, the two teams actually have a long Thanksgiving history together. The trip to Dallas will mark the eighth time that the Dolphins have played on Thanksgiving Day and the sixth time that they've played against the Cowboys (they played at Dallas in 1973, 1993, 1999, 2003 and 2011. They played at Detroit in 2006 and played at the Cardinals in 1977). During the Dolphins' 1993 trip to Dallas, they beat the Cowboys 16-14 after Leon Lett pulled off one one of the most infamous plays in NFL history. After the Cowboys blocked a potential game-winning field goal in the snow, they should've won the game, but Lett touched the ball past the line of scrimmage and the Dolphins recovered it, which gave them another shot at a field goal, and this time, they didn't waste it. Here's a look at the full play. As for the Bears and Lions, they played during the 2018 season on Thanksgiving in a game that Chicago ended up winning 23-16. The Lions played the Vikings on Thanksgiving in both 2016 and 2017, so the fact that they're playing the same team two years in a row is nothing new. Although the NFL schedule isn't expected to be released until April, there are a few nuggets that have been released. According to multiple reports, the Patriots likely won't get to host the traditional Thursday night opener that goes to the defending Super Bowl champion. Instead, the league plans to kick off its 100th season by celebrating its oldest rivalry with an opener that features the Bears and the Packers. The only games that have been confirmed by the NFL are the league's international games. Here's a look at the 10 teams that will be playing abroad in 2019. The dates of these five games won't be announced until April.