The Sportsletter - Thanksgiving Sports Rewind 👏

BY JEFF YODER

DEC. 2, 2024 | SUBSCRIBE | WEB VIEW

Welcome Back 👏

We hope everybody had a great holiday break. Sports were on overdrive these last five days with Thanksgiving football, holiday basketball tourneys and a rivalry week to end the CFB season. December is the shortest month on our calendar, but we’ll pack in a lot of 2024 rewinds over the weeks ahead. Stay tuned.

Letter Rip!

NFL

NFL Week 13: Football & Flurries ❄️

Photo: Bryan M. Bennett / Getty Images

Snow Storms & Thanksgiving Takeaways — NFL Favorites Went 13 for 14 Over the Holiday

It looks like another tiebreaker special tonight for this week’s NFL Pick ‘Em awards! Out of 14 games over Thanksgiving break, the favorites in the eyes of oddsmakers went 13-for-14 (93%). The only outlier was the Eagles beating the Ravens, and that’s not exactly a big upset. The three teams on massive win streaks — Bills (W7), Eagles (W8) and Lions (W10) — still have the momentum, and the playoff picture is getting clearer. We’ll drop the postseason bracket snapshot in tomorrow’s edition.

Quick Takes (Week 13’s Top Stories)

The Lions were the focal point of Thanksgiving Day with a knockout punch to the Bears (23-20), and head coach Matt Eberflus was fired the next day after some awful clock management. The Chiefs survived another ridiculous ending on Black Friday to hold off the Raiders (19-17) — they keep getting away with it! The Eagles beat the Ravens (24-19) in a battle of the birds and the two best running backs in football. Saquon Barkley (117 yards, 1 TD) got the last laugh against Derrick Henry (111 yards). To top it off, the Bills blitzed the 49ers on a snowy Sunday Night Football showcase in Buffalo (35-10) where the Bills clinched the AFC East and we saw the play of the week…

🎥 Play of the Week: Josh Allen Throws & Scores TD on Wild Play

NFL Week 13 Scores & Highlights

Lions def. Bears (23-20)

Cowboys def. Giants (27-20)

Packers def. Dolphins (30-17)

Chiefs def. Raiders (19-17)

Chargers def. Falcons (17-13)

Steelers def. Bengals (44-38)

Vikings def. Cardinals (23-22)

Colts def. Patriots (25-24)

Seahawks def. Jets (26-21)

Commanders def. Titans (42-19)

Texans def. Jaguars (23-20)

Rams def. Saints (21-14)

Buccaneers def. Panthers (26-23, OT)

Eagles def. Ravens (24-19)

Bills def. 49ers (35-10)

Tonight (Monday Night Football)

Browns at Broncos (8:15 pm ET, ESPN)

Sporting News: Barkley vs. Henry: Eagles RB Delivers Knockout Blow in MVP Duel

NBC Sports: 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey Suffers Potentially Season-Ending Knee Injury

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Rivalry Week: 8 OTs in Georgia 🚨

Photo: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images

Rivalry Week Brought Upsets, Brawls, CFP Knockouts & 8 Overtimes to Athens in Wild Holiday Display

The final weekend of the college football regular season delivered surprises in bunches, rivals planting flags in logos, and brawls aplety across the nation. The chaos is real this week for the CFP selection committee. Syracuse stunned #6 Miami (42-38) to put the Hurricanes in CFP limbo. Michigan shocked #2 Ohio State (13-10) in ‘The Game’ with some on-field brawls both before and after the game. #15 South Carolina snapped #12 Clemson (17-14) after the Tigers looked like a sneak-in bid to the playoff. Wild endings were everywhere, but none were bigger than the thriller in Athens. Georgia Tech — after surrendering a 17-point lead — took #7 Georgia to eight overtimes in an all-time classic! The Bulldogs survived (44-42, 8OT), but this game deserved an encore. Here’s a list of all the key highlights and upsets from Week 14 before this week’s conference championships and the upcoming rankings reveal that should nearly solidify the playoff bracket.

CFB Highlights (Notable Games)

#1 Oregon def. Washington (49-21)

🚨 Michigan def. #2 Ohio State (13-10)

#3 Texas def. #20 Texas A&M (17-7)

#4 Penn State def. Maryland (44-7)

#5 Notre Dame def. USC (49-35)

🚨 Syracuse def. #6 Miami (42-38)

🚨 #7 Georgia def. Georgia Tech (44-42, 8OT)

#8 Tennessee def. Vanderbilt (36-23)

#9 SMU def. California (38-6)

#10 Indiana def. Purdue (66-0)

#11 Boise State def. Oregon State (34-18)

#15 S. Carolina def. #12 Clemson (17-14)

#13 Alabama def. Auburn (28-14)

#14 Ole Miss def. Miss. State (26-14)

#16 Arizona State def. Arizona (49-7)

📊 Latest College Football AP Poll

Final CFP Rankings Reveal — Tuesday (Dec. 3)

MLS

The MLS Cup Clash is Set

Photo: Julio Aguilar / Getty Images

LA Galaxy & New York Red Bulls Set for Cup Final After 1-0 Victories in Conference Championships

And then there were two! The MLS Cup Playoffs might have gotten buried in your holiday sports-watching this week, but the title match is set. The LA Galaxy earned a hard-fought 1-0 win over the Seattle Sounders thanks to Dejan Joveljic’s late winner (85’). In the East, New York Red Bulls — the underdogs! — outlasted Orlando City (1-0) with a second-half goal from Andres Reyes (47’). The Galaxy were the West’s 2-seed, but NYRB is the 7-seed in the East. They’re the lowest seed ever to win a conference championship and play for the MLS Cup title in league history.

MLS Cup Playoffs (Semifinals)
West: LA Galaxy def. Seattle Sounders (1-0)

East: NY Red Bulls def. Orlando City SC (1-0)

MLS Cup Finals

NYRB at LA Galaxy (Sat. 4:00 pm ET, AppleTV/FOX)

Yahoo! Sports: NY Red Bulls Advance to MLS Cup & Drive Home the Randomness of These Playoffs

HIGHLIGHTS 🎥

Lightning Round ⚡️

🏀 NBA

Spurs def. Kings (127-125)

Wemby Has Triple-Double (34-14-11)

Cavs def. Celtics (115-111)

Mitchell (35 pts) & Tatum (33 pts) Battle