N.F.L. Thanksgiving Schedule: What to Look at for Present-day Games
The Raiders (5-5), as soon as viewed as just one of the N.F.L.’s major teams, have nose-dived, losing three straight video games as other controversies engulfed them. Weeks soon after Jon Gruden resigned as head coach in Oct right after The New York Occasions documented on racist and homophobic email messages he sent just before signing up for the group, the Raiders produced their 2020 very first-round draft picks, Henry Ruggs III and Damon Arnette, for different off-field incidents.
Quarterback Derek Carr has struggled to adjust with out Ruggs, who commanded defensive interest as a speedy deep risk, and Las Vegas’s offense has not scored a lot more than 20 points in a activity throughout the skid.
Buffalo Bills at New Orleans Saints, 8:20 p.m., NBC
The Payments (6-4) were being once assumed to be Super Bowl contenders who have been making on previous season, when they appeared in their initially A.F.C. championship recreation given that the 1993 season. Buffalo can nevertheless be a person of the greater groups in the convention, but it has shed two of its very last a few game titles to inferior opponents, and ceded the A.F.C. East division guide to the New England Patriots. Shedding to the Colts previous 7 days pointed out the Bills’ regarding difficulties with penalties, risky conclusions by quarterback Josh Allen, and a best-rated defense that atypically gave up 264 hurrying yards.
The Saints (5-5) had been predicted to regroup after quarterback Drew Brees’s retirement this off-time, but New Orleans has been unbearably inconsistent because of ravaging accidents. The top rated receiver Michael Thomas, who was anticipated to miss six months, in its place is out for the period and Brees’s successor, Jameis Winston, tore an anterior cruciate ligament in 7 days 8, leaving journeyman Trevor Siemian in demand of the offense.
The crew has lost 3 straight games, and above that span has been beset by even far more injuries to offensive playmakers. The versatile working back again Alvin Kamara (knee) will not engage in on Thursday, and his backup, Mark Ingram, is also recovering from a knee harm. Restricted conclude Adam Trautman (knee) was positioned on the wounded reserve list.
Equally groups are on a downward skid, but this recreation is additional critical for the Saints. A reduction would minimize New Orleans’s odds of reaching the postseason to 44 percent, according to the Playoff Simulator. Perhaps they’ll perform like it.
