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The tradition of Thanksgiving in some families is eating a turkey dinner and spending time with your relatives, but for others, it's watching Lions football. Every year on that Thursday in late-November, Detroit takes the field to play on national TV on Thanksgiving. This year, the game has even more meaning as Joey Harrington comes back to town.

Detroit really does have to win this game. There's not a lot you can do to save this season, but when playing on national TV, a loss would just be embarrassing. What I'm most fearful of is that Joey Harrington will return to Detroit and have one of his best games ever. The fans will boo early on, but if Miami starts to pull away, then I've heard some people are going to cheer for Harrington to stick it to Matt Millen. But maybe that's what it would take for someone to open their eyes. We've been embarrassed in these games before, and another beat down today could prompt some changes down the road.

Getting away from the negative side of things, Detroit needs to create turnovers. The offense isn't going to be as prolific as usual if Kevin Jones doesn't play, so it'll take the defense to put Jon Kitna in position to get some easy scores. If the Lions can do that and rattle Joey Harrington throughout the day, then I think they could get a win.

(For coverage of the Dolphins on the SBN network, please check out The Phinsider.)

Date: Thursday, November 23, 2006
Time: 12:30 p.m. ET
Teams: Detroit Lions (2-8-0) vs Miami Dolphins (4-6-0)
Injury Report: Click Here
Location: Detroit, MI, Ford Field
Weather: Domed Stadium
Television: CBS
Radio: WKRK 97.1 FM Detroit
Spread: Miami favored by 3.0; Over/Under 39.0