The New York Jets will be playing on Thanksgiving, but they won't be playing the Lions at Ford Field. That is because the Jets will get to host this year's night game on Thanksgiving, according to Gary Myers of the New York Daily News.
With the Jets already booked for a Thanksgiving game of their own, that leaves the Patriots as the only possible opponent for the Lions on Turkey Day since this year's game will be broadcast on CBS. An AFC team must to be involved in the game since it is on CBS, and the only two AFC teams on the Lions' home schedule are the Jets and Patriots, meaning New England is coming to Detroit on Thanksgiving.
Conventional thinking suggested that the Lions' opponent on Thanksgiving in 2010 was going to be the Jets based on the potential for a matchup featuring Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez, but instead it will be Stafford versus Tom Brady. That's a pretty intriguing matchup as well, but there won't be the friendship angle that would have come along with Stafford and Sanchez. Either way, the Patriots are a big-name team that will undoubtedly bring a lot of storylines to Detroit.
The Lions have played the Patriots twice before on Thanksgiving. The first meeting was in 2000, and the Lions won 34-9. The other meeting was in 2002, and the Patriots won that game 20-12.