Next game: Monday, December 7th vs. Baltimore
Packers Gameday at 4:30 p.m. on Newsradio 620 WTMJ, a live blog here and pregame coverage on Live at 5 and 6 on TODAY'S TMJ4, also text "sports" to 79008 for score updates and tweet comments @620wtmj.

4th Quarter

2:46 p.m.  Packers' 4th Drive  2:14
Drive start: Lions 41
Matt Flynn is in the game.  Get the table set, folks.  You can start your dinner now.

This game belongs in the category of not-high-domination, but a much better win than the 26-0 shutout that was a pathetic performance back in October.

Well, it's 3rd and 12 for Flynn and he hands off to Jackson to get a few yards to pad stats.  Flynn will stay in the game, we think, to just run a play...nope...they're just running clock down.

Aaron Rodgers is swirling his towel after a HUGE day.  28-39, 348 yards, 3 TD passes.

Matthew Stafford hands off to Aaron Brown for a who cares run.  Handshake.  Happiness.

2:37 p.m.  Lions' 5th Drive  3:47
Drive start: Lions 17
Now it's mop-up time.  Stafford continues to throw passes to ants underneath the Ford Field turf instead of receivers.  Larry is giving great praise to this team as it has bounced back from the Tampa Bay loss.  It wasn't perfect, but in a parody-filled league, it's enough.

The Lions continue to march down field in useless time, as a baby-faced rookie grows in experience...and in inaccurate throws.  He finally gets one to Fitzsimmons for a first down, though he's de-helmeted and he nearly fumbles....oooh, a McCarthy challenge.  C'mon, Mike, you're delaying us from our dinners with that fumble challenge. 

But he wins.  ANOTHER Woodson takeaway.  He is owning this game.

2:35 p.m.  Lions' 4th Drive  3:55
Green Bay 34, Detroit 12
Woodson 38 yd INT return TD
Drive start: Detroit 34
Folks, it's getting boring, but exciting at the same time.  This seems like it's in hand, but the Lions have a chance to make it one score.

Stafford PICKED!!!!  Woodson!  GAME OVER!   Call the dagger, Wayne!  Call the dagger!  Heisman pose, too.  He has OWNED Johnson today.

2:30 p.m.  Packers' 3rd Drive  5:01
Drive start: Green Bay 22
The Packers had their hands team in, but Hanson booted deep to Woodson who added to his long list of accomplishments.

Wow...I just saw on TV that the Silverdome sold for $583,000.  There are plenty of homes on Lake Drive that run more expensive.  Honey, can we buy a football stadium to live in?  It's turf, so there's no lawnmowing cost.

Jennings makes a great hip catch on 1st down.  No, he didn't actually catch someone's hip.  But two runs go wasted and Detroit gets 4:00 minutes or so left to score twice.

2:22 p.m.  Lions' 3rd Drive  9:14
Green Bay 27, Detroit 12
Hanson 22 yard field goal
Drive start: Green Bay 48
Menmotum, as Pat Riley used to call it.  The opposite of momentum, and it's making the Packers a victim.  Thankfully, it's still a two-score game.

Thankfully, the Lions forget that fact and run the ball for a yard.

After it bogs down to 4th-5....Stafford finds Heller WIDE OPEN over the middle.  Another linebacker who doesn't know how to cover tight ends, Nick Barnett - at least this time.

Thank goodness overthrows don't or Calvin Johnson would have beaten Charles Woodson for a touchdown.  WHOA!  Replay shows it went through his hands.

Replay shows the next play has Morris catching a pass despite blanket coverage by Hawk.  

Stafford will be a good one someday, but he won't do much if the Lions show they can't run, like they didn't on the next play with Barnett closing quickly on Kevin Smith.

2nd down: Stafford chased and advances for four yards when Brad Jones breathes down his neck brace.

3rd: Stafford throws to Kevin Smith, as Jones got away with pass interference near the goal line. 

2:13 p.m.  Packers' 2nd Drive  10:05
Green Bay 27, Detroit 9
Safety, Grant down in end zone
Drive start: Packers' 1
Grant barely gets to the goal line to avoid a safety, extending the ball past the line as he was being smooshed.

WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?  Grant fumbles and it's a recovery by Daisun for a TD...wait.  McCarthy throws out the flag to see if Grant's knee was down, meaning a safety instead of a touchdown, and a three-score lead remaining.  It wasn't, but the elbow was.

2:07 p.m.  Lions' 2nd Drive  12:25
Drive start: Lions 25
Smith actually finds a hole up the middle...until Raji trails him and catches up. 

Stafford scrambles and finds a wide open Northcutt....uh oh....running 5,000,000 yards until he gets to the 21.  Jarrett Bush turned into burnt toast, the kind you wouldn't serve at George Webb's in the morning.

Smith then takes a swing pass to the six yard line, and Stafford takes forever to set up Smith on a pounding run from the shotgun formation, to the one yard line.  Then he leaves the game, groggy like he had a few too many on Water Street in Milwaukee last night.

Stafford on a slant to Johnson and it was tipped, with Hawk nearly able to steal it and go 102 yards.

3rd down and Northcutt misses a throw...so it's 4th down territory for all or nothing....and it's nothing because Stafford threw it into Lake Huron.  Embarassing.  The boo-birds outnumber turkeys in Detroit.

2:03 p.m.  Packers' 1st Drive 
Drive start: Packers 31
Now, with the size of the lead, it's time to show the camera guys on the TV broadcast to fill time. 

The Packers' run game barely gains anything on two plays, then Rodgers somehow escapes a sack and finds Lee behind the line of scrimmage.   Rodgers was down, seemingly hurt, but OK.  He avoided two different sacks, as Levy bumped him instead of getting arms around him.

2:01 p.m.  Lions' 1st Drive  (continued from first drive)
It ends pretty quickly as Stafford delivers the ball for the ants down underneath the turf at Ford Field.  Hmmm...I wonder what they eat for Thanksgiving?

3rd Quarter

1:57 p.m.  Lions' 4th Drive  :38
Drive start: Lions 22
Smith rumbles for three yards...then Heller makes a third down catch...4th quarter...20 pt. comeback?  Hopefully not.

1:52 p.m.  Packers' 3rd Drive  3:03
Green Bay 27, Detroit 7
Rodgers-Jones 21 yd TD pass
Drive start: Packers' 36
Rodgers on 2nd down with a GREAT shovel pass to Grant to deep Detroit territory on a 27-yard play.  That's a pass play that really should be credited as a run with the burst Grant produced.

Rodgers loves carving up Lion meat.  320 yards today, 300+ yards in every game versus the Lions. 

Quick 2nd-down throw to James Jones who got a knee down, then got gang tackled.  I'm looking at a Lions coach putting up the "zebra" sign defense.  That's dumb, because then Rodgers can call an audible to match it seconds before, like he did to Jones on the TOUCHDOWN THROW!  Jones was smart to lift his knees up as he dove for the goal line.

1:43 p.m.  Lions' 3rd Dive  6:38
Drive start: Lions' 29
Stafford to Fitzsimmons covered by Barnett - 8 yard gain - but if Barnett doesn't grab Fitzsimmons' shoelace, he's running to Ann Arbor right now.

(The beep goins on the stove for the turkey broth.  I'm smelling something great here.)

Smelling a Smith run?  Hawk and Raji are, and Raji is getting better every day.  Larry: "he's a load."

3rd-3: Fitzsimmons making another catch, getting a golf clap from the dwindling "sellout" crowd.

Stafford threaded a needle to Bryant Johnson for a 17-yard play, the longest for today.  That's a great sign, when you have a 17-yard gain as your biggest.

Cullen Jenkins on his knees after chasing Matthew Stafford down to Toledo on that play.

2nd down and Smith is ankle-tackled by Barnett, and that saved a LOT more yardage because Hawk didn't stay home on the run defense.

3rd-4 from the 36: 4 down territory, and Stafford threw a PICK....well, maybe not....thanks to Bush having the same slippery turkey before the game.

Well, maybe it is field goal time from 937-year-old ason Hanseon....54 yarder NO GOOD!  Long enough, but pushed to the FOX News side of the upright, and not the CNN/MSNBC side of the left upright.

1:35 p.m.  Packers' 2nd Drive  11:06
Green Bay 20, Detroit 7
Rodgers-Driver 7 yd TD pass
Drive start: Packers' 10
(As we blog the game from home today, the stuffing gets made by a very skilled and loving relative here at the Sorgi household.  However, she calls it dressing - and we finally have the definition we need.  It's not being stuffed in a turkey, so it's dressing.  I still call it stuffing.)

Rodgers delivers a BEAUTIFUL play-action fake and hits Driver deep for the second time - 45 yard bomb.  William James, you just got toasted.  Could you please pass the jelly?

After a no-gain run, it's an eight-yard completion to set up a 3rd-2...a thread-the-needle throw to Driver for a first down.  Looking for the silver streaks on the football.   Driver: six catches, 135 yards today.

Rodgers bootlegs and finds Nelson for his first great play of the day to the 15.  Finally, Nelson decides to show up.  Give Rodgers credit for a solid pump fake.

Now in the red zone, Grant has alligator arms on first down, or like Kermit said, "AL-EE-GAY-TOR!"  (Why the reference, I don't know.)

Rodgers does the old Favre pump fake far ahead of the line of scrimmage, and he gets to the seven to make a manageable 3rd and five.

WHAT A THREAD THE NEEDLE TO DRIVER IN THE END ZONE!  That went through a Detroit set of hands.  Inches from a pick.

1:31 p.m.  Lions' 2nd Drive  12:34
Drive start: Lions' 37
Smith gets steamrolled by white and yellow defenders on 1st down.  Barnett, Smith, Raji, Henry Jordan, Lester Archambeau, every Packers defender in history seemed to be stopping Smith's progress, which was no gain, though he was pushed to Windsor, Canada.

3rd-7, and Stafford throws to nobody.  Gotta like that play call, Jim Schwartz.

1:25 p.m.  Packers' 1st Drive  14:06 
Drive start: Detroit 39
We have to give Woodson major props - five tackles, a sack and an interception....and the good day just went down a little bit on ANOTHER stupid penalty, this time by Colledge.  All season long, I've said that Brazilian flag makers could protest the Packers for having so many flags used during Packers games...they could be spending today in Detroit.

Meanwhile, Ryan Grant makes up for it with a nine-yard slant off tackle.  

Rodgers throws a perfect dart to Jermichael Finley, who didn't even look for it and extend his arms.  A perfect pass goes off the eight and the six and on the ground.  DUH!

3rd-6: and Rodgers AGAIN throws a pass WAY TOO SHORT for the first down.  Another dumb play call, especially because it seemed like Driver was his first or second choice.

They're going on 4th-2: FUMBLE!  Peterson blitzed, no one picks him up, and the Lions recover.  Blame a lack of smart protection scheme.  No, Aaron Rodgers didn't feel that, but you couldn't avoid that one.

1:20 p.m.  Lions' 1st Drive  15:00
Drive start: Detroit 36
NICE PICK!  HECK of a pick by Woodson...diving to the ground, and the replays show the ball didn't touch the carpet.

2nd Quarter

12:53 p.m.  Lions' 3rd Drive  :55
Drive start: Detroit 24
Woodson made a HECK of a tackle on 1st down...it would have been a LOT worse than seven yards had he not made the play.

3rd down and Smith catches a screen pass for a first down, which will be called a face mask because of a stiff arm to the face mask...wait, Woodson face masked Smith, too, and the offense gets the benefit of the doubt.

Now, 1st-10 at the Green Bay 43 on another dumb penalty....but Woodson on a blitz makes up for it with a GREAT sack.  A nice delayed blitz.

:16 left, and on a sramble up into Packers territory again, Jolly and Jones could have REALLY hurt Stafford on the run, bending his legs back.  I don't think it was dirty.

4th down with 4 seconds left....and Matthews makes the sack while Stafford scrambles to get open for a Hail Mary throw.

12:41 p.m.  Packers' 3rd Drve  4:42
Packers 13, Lions 7
Crosby 25 yd FG
Drive start: Green Bay 46
A Rodgers houdini-act to get rid of the football on a check down throw to Grant for a first down.  I'm searching for his magician's license.

ANOTHER first down throw to Jennings.  I have got to give this offensive line credit.  Granted, it's not the toughest of opponents they're facing, but the O-line is dominating play.

(Hmmmm....cranberry salad being mixed right now.  HOT cranberry salad.)

Grant with a heck of a cutback to avoid two different tacklers, and a two-yard loss, to turn it into a five-yard gain.

2nd-5....back to Grant, and he's riding through plowed holes.  They're not wide enough to drive a truck to the Super Bowl through, but it's enough to drive a Pinto to the playoffs.

A smart pass to Jones on the outside to the first down inside the 10 yard line.  Rodgers is slicing and dicing...until he actually gets rushed for once.  On 1st and goal, he does a GREAT job of throwing the ball away. 

After the complaints we've had on Rodgers, he deserves more than a golf clap for that.

ANOTHER run play to Jackson and AGAIN the Lions can diagnose what the Packers are doing when Rodgers telegraphs the handoff.

Oooooh....that pass to Finley at the goal line could have easily been a 101-yard INT return TD had Rodgers not threaded the needle enough.  Still an INC.

12:36 p.m.  Lions' 2nd Drive  6:12
Drive start: Detroit 39
A relative in the house said he wished the Packers had the horses like the Budweiser Clydesdales.  That's not really the problem.  I wish they had the brains of Harvard students. Poppinga with a boneheaded push to the back to dramatically improve their field position.  Personal foul call on Poppinga. Yeeesh.

WHAT a stuff by B.J. Raji who turns Kevin Smith into cranberry salad.  340 pounds will stuff most running backs into cranberry juice.

3rd-5: pop-fly to Tramon Williams....BAD throw by the rookie.  Wayne called it a horrible throw.  A better adjective: stupid throw.  Stupid throw makes up for stupid special teams penalty.

12:21 p.m.  Packers' 2nd Drive
Green Bay 10, Detroit 7
Crosby 20 yd FG
Drive start: Green Bay 4
Combine the bad returning decision making by Jordy Nelson and another dumb penalty with a block-in-the-back and it's at the four-yard-line to start the drive.

With 70,000 people, or really 50,000 people and 20,000 empty seats being purported as people, screaming their lungs and chairbacks out, a Grant 2-yard run and an incomplete sideline throw means 3rd-and-long deep in your territory.

Gotta love those boo-boo's on special teams, folks.

PHEW!  Rodgers was about to get sacked for a safety when he JUST got rid of it for a first down to Jones on a diving catch.  BIG TIME phew.

Thanks for good third down conversions.  Now, another 86 yards to go, and Ryan Grant gets four of them.

Rodgers to Nelson and it's another BOO BOO by Nelson, though you can excuse him a little for a high, fast pass.

Hmm....Larry Foote with a little hometown reffing?  Could have been a roughing the passer call.

3rd-6: WIDE OPEN TO JENNINGS!!!!!  Nice slant pattern for 33 yards.  That's called How You Beat a Blitz 101.

Rodgers continues with the smart decision making with a throw to Rodgers, creating a down-distance we love - 2nd-2.

He then rockets a throw over Finley, and he got demolished like the American car industry.  Delmas gets nailed with unnecessary roughness, 15 yards, for headhunting to the point where he led with his head for going after Finley's head.  Finley is cowering over on his knees.

ANOTHER 15 yard penalty means a first-and goal at the 8...but a Rodgers-Jones one-step beat your man one-on-one to get open after the pass, and Jones didn't beat his man.

2nd-goal: Rodgers to Driver and he made a one-handed catch on his knee, extending the ball to the five yard line...wait a sec.  Did he catch the ball, or did it hit the turf?  It DID hit the ground.  RATS, but a good call.

3rd-goal: with guys shifting all over the place, Rodgers throws to Driver on a one-on-one beat-your-man pattern, and he doesn't beat his man to the end zone.  WHY CALL THAT????????

12:12 p.m.  Lions' 1st Drive 
Drive start: Detroit 25
As we watch this contest here at home on Thanksgiving, a relative here at the house makes the broth for the turkey stuffing...or is it dressing...and her husband is being a good husband and keeping out of the way.

The first-down run by Smith came from a great backside cut to negate a good job of penetration by Hawk.

Smith then crawls for four yards after being tripped, and he looked like your little baby cousin on your carpet.  But on 3rd down, Smith smashes for a first down.

Maurice Morris...that's a long-lost name in the annals of NFL football.  The kind of scrub Detroit can still gather in, and the kind who can gain yardage against the Packers.

3rd-6: and it's pure Lions football as Northcutt, who had beaten Jarrett Bush, gets the same butterfingers Jordy Nelson had earlier.

12:09 p.m.  Packers' 1st Drive (continued from first quarter)
Green Bay 7, Detroit 7
Rodgers-Lee 7 yd TD pass
Now in great scoring position, a PERFECT screen pass to Lee who pulls a Mary Lou Retton, and it's so happy in our house that young children are crying!  (Or is it due to crashing dishes?)

1st Quarter

12:03 p.m.  Packers' 2nd Drive  1:20
Drive start: Green Bay 26
That Collins INT was a much needed momentum swinger, but the Packers have to do better at taking advantage.  Long drives that produce no scores mean less than the taste of your aunt's fruitcake.

Grant again on another one of those bothersome "broadcast to the rest of the world that you're handing the ball to Grant by hw long you stick the ball out for him" running plays, for three yards.  Oh, he loses those same yards as Buchanon sees the Packers' tendency. 

Those 3rd-and-10's we don't like.  He takes forever, then bombs it as far as he can and HITS DRIVER at the six yard line!  He had to come back to get the ball on a 68-yard pass play, because Rodgers can't throw it 80 yards.

11:58 a.m.  Lions' 2nd Drive  4:39
Drive start: Detroit 33
A missed tackle by Bigby leads to a five-yard gain.  It's not a deadly mistake, but we cannot have the pileup of mistakes we've already seen.  A fumble, two killer penalties and a missed field goal.  Not good.

A 3rd-1 at the DET 41: handoff to Smith...did he get there?  Perhaps, by the length of a turkey skin?  Yep,

Throw to Kevin Smith into the flat and he gets an added 10 yards on a bad-form tackle by Hawk into Green Bay territory.  More blame to go around today.

Stafford finds Fitzsimmons for a power-pass to the sidelines...fun to see 260-lb. guys try to break the tackle of half the team.

3rd-4 and a HECK of an interception by Nick Collins along the sidelines.  He reached up and got both feet in bounds.

11:45 a.m.  Packers' 1st Drive  13:04
Drive start: Green Bay 11
This time, Nelson hangs on and keeps it, going to the 25.  Ugh...illegal block in the back penalty.  The second bad move. 

Relatives say he didn't have control of the ball.

To get out of the hole, it's short-possession passes, like one to Korey Hall. 

GREAT run by Ryan Grant right up the gut of the Lions defense...to the 34.  A relative tells me he has to control himself from yelling today...mainly to aggravate his wife.

But two busted plays force a third down and six deep in territory, and while another relative works on dinner, Rodgers gets tons of time and throws undeneath to Finley.  This is when it's not so bad that he's taking time to decide, because the rush did not come in on him.  He was looking downfield, downfield at three different deep receivers, and as Larry said, "nuthin doin'."

Grant then pounds up the middle to the 30.  The folks with ESPN were saying that on short weeks, it's smart to have offensive game plans that run the football.  With the way Grant is running, not a bad idea.

Another smart call with the one-step drop throw to Jennings to go one-on-one with Phillip Buchanon.  No first down, but a third-and-two.  Very managable.

Brandon Jackson on a toss sweep!  Gets the first down.  That reminded me of, as Ted Moore said, "days of yore" with the sweep to the right side, except with four wideouts and a shotgun QB.  Lombardi would never have called that.

Smart screen call for Hall for a nice five-yard gain.  This is pound-it-out, possession football, but using the passing game.  The modern version of three-plus yards and a cloud of dust.

Another 3rd-and short, 3rd-and 3 at the 39.  No getting it here, and it's 4th down time...do they have to resort to that?  Nope.  Another possession, high-percentage pass to Driver for a first down.  The favorite play of the Badgers, the bubble screen, used in the pro's.

This is a fantastic drive...so far.

Grant smashes for four yards...but it could have been more had Rodgers not stuck the ball out for five seconds for the rest of the world to see that it's a run play.

Already an eight-minute drive...pop-fly to Jennings as he's inadvertently tackled by Buchanon...he just tripped and fell on Jennings.  No flag there.

First third-and-long of the drive: 3rd-7: and Rodgers threw to...nobody.  He wanted Driver, but behind him.  Field goal time...except it's pushed wide right.  More than eight minutes of time wasted.

11:36 a.m.  Lions' 1st Drive  14:53
Lions 7, Packers 0
Stafford-Calvin Johnson 2 yd TD pass
Drive start: Green Bay 21
Ugh.  Short fields.  Turnovers.  Not how you want to bury an inferior opponent.

The Packers' AJ Hawk cannot cover a guy like Pettigrew, who sprinted toward the corner on a great pass from Stafford to make it first and goal. 

All over, not having Al Haris hurts the pass coverage in a multiplicative effect.

Thank goodness Charles Woodson can cover Calvin Johnson on 1st down.  Then, Matthew Stafford was aiming for any kind of green turf on a middle screen pass that the Packers well-diagnosed.

Too aggressively diagnosed, as Clay Matthews committs one of the most stupid penalties in the sport, roughing the passer.  You know he got rid of the football.  Don't touch the pansy....oh wait.  Pettigrew got hurt on the play.  Pansy comments about quarterbacks are delayed until Pettigrew gets up.

He's gingerly, as Wayne Larrivee puts it, walking off the field.

The Matthews penalty wasn't really a hard hit, but he touched the face mask.  Never do that.

On 2nd down: this time he gets Johnson for the score, throwing behind Woodson's coverage.  A fresh set of downs caused the score.  Blame Matthews and Nelson for those seven points.

11:36 a.m.  Packers' 1st Drive  15:00 
Becomes the Lions' 1st drive thanks to Jordy Nelson having too much butter on his turkey before the game, letting the ball slip out of his hands. 

Pregame

11:32 a.m.
Coin toss time: with Jenkins, Jennings and Martin as Packers captains, they call tails...and it's tails.  Packers will own the ball to start.

11:30 a.m.
Hey, wait a sec...Melanie Fiona...she's from Canada!  That's like having Bruce Springsteen sing "Oh, Canada" at the NHL All-Star Game in Montreal or something.

11:28 a.m.
They're making this a Super Bowl-like atmosphere, as best they can in Detroit, with the starting lineup intro, the Melanie Fiona-sung national anthem and all the pomp and circumstance.  Question for ya; who invented the term pomp and circumstance?

11:07 a.m.
Today, most of you are at home with your families.  So is your Packers blogger today.  Why?  Listen to 620WTMJ's "Wisconsin's Morning News" on Friday and you'll find out.

In the meantime, you'll not just get updates on the game, but the fun and frivolity of Thanksgiving at our home, and even a description of the menu.

Tweet us what you're having for Thanksgiving today, and more so, what you're thankful for.  We'll post the best responses.

10:38 a.m.
The Detroit Free Press reports that Matthew Stafford, the QB with the busted-up left shoulder who was doubtful today, will start, as will WR Calvin Johnson.  This could get interesting with some suddenly growing firepower.

More: The Llama Laments

Pregame Story

GREEN BAY and PHILADELPHIA - Thanksgiving Day usually means gathering around the table with family and friends, expressing gratitude for the good things in life, and playing and watching football. 

That last thing has often meant seeing the Lions and Cowboys, but the Packers are not far behind those teams in having a rich turkey day legacy.

Today is the 33rd time that the Green Bay Packers play an NFL game on Thanksgiving Day (also including three non-league games), and only the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys have more of a history on the day.

In fact, of all the teams now in the NFL, none have a longer Thanksgiving legacy than the Packers, since they played on Turkey Day before they even entered the league. 

They took on the Stambaugh Miners from the town of Stambaugh, Mich., and beat them, 14-0 at old Hagemeister Park. 

They've even played two more home games, winning in 1922 against the Duluth Kelleys and 1923 versus the Hammond Pro's. 

In the NFL's early days, they would take trips to play the Kansas City Blues, Pottsville Maroons, Brooklyn Dodgers, Staten Island Stapletons, and even the south side of Chicago back when the Chicago Cardinals hosted a Thanksgiving Day game.

But the Packers have found themselves regularly traveling to two places for Turkey Day contests.  The first was, for a while, a road game against the Frankford Yellowjackets.

No, not Frankford, Kentucky or Frankfurt, Germany, but a part of the city of Brotherly Love.

"It's one of the neighborhoods of Philadelphia, in the northeastern section of the city," said John Fenton, a Philadelphia football historian. 

"Back in the beginning of the 1900's, it was a pretty industrialized area.  They had a pretty strong community.  They had that football team, the Frankford Yellowjackets."

Fenton explains that the team in that Philly neighborhood was, like the Packers, an early NFL powerhouse.

"Frankford was a very successful club," explained Fenton. 

"It was one of the strongest team in the East.  It had only been in the league for two years, but it was already one of the powerhouse teams in the NFL.  In 1926, they were vying for the championship and eventually won it."

That's when the Turkey day rivalry started between these two squads.

"(Frankford) also had a lot of community support, which made them attractive to other teams," said Fenton.

"At that time, the teams in the NFL used to make their own schedules.  They'd get together amongst themselves and schedule their own games.  Teams liked to come to Frankford to play, because they had such a strong fan base."

Teams like Green Bay to come to their town because of its already-nationwide popularity.

"Green Bay was an attractive team to Frankford, because they were from the Midwest, and the Midwest was the heartland of professional football at that time.  The fans from Frankford liked to see teams from the Midwest, and that's really the two reasons that they started it."

According to Fenton, the Packers-Yellowjackets games attracted a heavy turnout, including the 1929 game, the only tie in a Thanksgiving Day series which ended 2-2-1.

That tie was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect season for Green Bay, its first NFL title season.  Green Bay had beaten Frankford, 14-2.

But when they met on Turkey Day, the Yellowjackets (9-2-3) were beginning to nip on the Packers' heels in the chase for the NFL title.

“The Thanksgiving Day game was pretty pivotal.  If Frankford defeated the Packers, the Packers and the championship would have been in striking distance.  If the Packers won, they could put the Yellowjackets away."

All accounts describe the game as not just a close one, but a physical stalemate.

"It was a windy day.  They were struggling back and forth the whole game.  Neither team was able to get the upper hand."

The game ended as a 0-0 tie.

"That scoreless draw pretty much put things out of reach for the Yellowjackets, and pretty much clinched the championship for Green Bay."

After 1935, the Packers took 16-year break from playing someone else on Thanksgiving Day.  One year, though, they decided to play themselves. 

In 1949, the Packers were in severe financial straits and looking for any sort of way to make money.

So, at old City Stadium, the set up a pair of games: an old-timer's game, and an intrasquad scrimmage.

They played every year from 1951-63, something that Packers President Bob Harlan loved while growing up in St. Louis.

"When I was growing up, I liked the unity of having Detroit and Green Bay in that game every year," said Harlan. 

"I thought that meant a great deal, something you could look forward too.  Everybody I knew in Milwaukee (where he went to college at Marquette University) looked forward to it."

The problem was, Green Bay only won three times. 
The most memorable of those games, or perhaps the worst of them in the eyes of Packers fans, was ironically the only blemish on an otherwise perfect 1962 NFL Championship season. 

"A lot of people say that was the greatest team the Packers ever had, but on Thanksgiving Day, with Alex Karras, Roger Brown and a great defense, they really shut us down," explained Harlan.

Packers quarterback and future Hall-of-Famer Bart Starr, the leading passer in the NFL that season, was avalanched 11 times by Honolulu blue-clad Lions defenders.

"It was startling to see the team be so different.  Starr would get the ball and have absolutely no time to even start looking for a receiver.  The offensive line, all day long, could not stop the Lions defense," said Harlan. 

"It was probably as fine of a defensive game as you could imagine, and (they) totally shut down an offense that was ranked at the top of the league, and a team that everybody was in awe of.  You talk to folks that have watched the Packers for years and years, and they almost invariably will say that the best team the Packers ever had was in 1962." 

Lombardi kept the game for one more year, and then said enough was enough.

"The reason he did was that he just got tired of every year having to prepare his team in the short week.  He finally talked to Pete Rozelle, and Rozelle agreed to put other teams in there."

It wasn't just the results, but what visiting teams had to go through when playing on Turkey Day which brought on the demand to end the regular series.

"First of all, it's how unpopular the game is with the coaches," said Harlan. 

"They basically have to play three games in 12 days.  I have never been around a coach in Green Bay who enjoyed the game.  It does put a stress on your team when you're in late November, early December and you're kind of beat up, your legs are a little tired and everything and now you've got to play these three quick games.

"You do get a break after the Thanksgiving Day game, because you've got an extra weekend to get ready, but it was never popular with the coaches." 
 
Still, after that series was done, the NFL brought the Packers back for seven more Turkey Day tussles, with five in Detroit and two in Dallas.  Green Bay's 3-4 in those games, the most memorable win coming in 1986 on an 83-yard punt return by Walter Stanley with 41 seconds left to give the Packers a 42-40 victory.

And in the late John Madden years, the Packers were usually pretty successful, going 3-2 since 1986.

"When Madden was doing the games, we would find a way, once we got to the stadium, to go on his bus before the game began and the turkey meal he had laid out there, you could have almost fed the entire Green Bay Packers team anyway," joked Harlan.

Now, the NFL plays three Thanksgiving Day games, including a night game that rotates among different cities.  Could that game happen in Green Bay, where you might get deer hunters taking a break and families wrapping up the meal early enough for a trip to Lambeau Field? 

Harlan didn't want it.

"Particularly late in the season, when you're talking about snow possibilities, and ice possibilities, I didn't want people leaving here at 10:00-11:00 at night, so I think it would be a tough game to be played at night at this time of year up here."

That means for the foreseeable future, if you see the Packers while you eat your turkey, you'll see them on the road, in Dallas, or like today, in Motown.