NFL Week 12: Schedule, scores, odds, picks, top moments, and everything to know

Three Thanksgiving matchups between division rivals will make for an interesting start to Week 12 in the NFL.

Thanksgiving week is one of the greatest weeks of the year for football fans because in addition to having a full day of NFL action on Sunday, there’s also three back-to-back games on Thursday to help you avoid talking to your family.

Thanksgiving games

Bears vs. Lions, Washington vs. Cowboys, and Falcons vs. Saints were the Thanksgiving games this year, all division matchups. The Bears and Saints won and built on their first place leads in their respective divisions, but Washington lost and as such lost its lead to the Cowboys in the NFC East. In terms of their records, the two NFC East teams are tied, but the Cowboys’ 3-1 division record is better than Washington’s at 2-1. If the season ended this week, the Cowboys would win the division title.

Washington played with backup quarterback Colt McCoy at quarterback following Alex Smith’s season-ending leg injury. The Bears also played with a backup; for Chicago it was Chase Daniel filling in for Mitchell Trubisky, who’s been having shoulder issues following last Sunday night’s game against the Vikings.

The 9-1 Saints were slowed down offensively against the Falcons, at least compared to what we’ve seen from them in recent weeks, but they still beat Matt Ryan’s squad with relative ease at home in New Orleans.

Primetime matchups

The other primetime games this week are also division matchups as the Packers travel to Minnesota play the Vikings on Sunday Night Football and the Titans head to Houston to face the Texans on Monday Night Football.

The Packers and Vikings are both looking to get back on track after last week’s losses to the Seahawks and Bears, respectively. The Vikings are currently in solid position to make the playoffs, but must keep winning to hold off the Seahawks ... and Packers.

The Texans are in first place in the AFC East and currently have a two game lead in the division. But, the Titans did beat them earlier this year and remain a confusing team that can look hot or cold in any given week.

Odds and expert picks

All of our expert game pickers are going with the Cowboys and Saints to win, though the coin flip went with both Washington and the Falcons. Everyone went with the Patriots over the Jets and only the coin choice the Cardinals over the Chargers.

Get all of our Week 12 picks here.

What to watch for

The Colts rank second in the NFL with only 10 sacks allowed this season and have not given up a sack in five consecutive games. On Sunday against the Dolphins, the Colts can become the fourth team to allow zero sacks in six consecutive games within a single season since 1963 when team sacks became an official statistic. The teams with the most consecutive games without allowing a sack in a season since 1963 are the Dolphins (1988, 12), Washington (1991, 8), and the Dolphins (1989, 7).

On the other side of the equation, Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers recorded a sack last week and has 158.5 sacks during his 17-year NFL career. With two sacks on Sunday against the Seahawks, Peppers would have surpassed Pro Football Hall of Famer Kevin Greene (160 sacks) for the third-most sacks since 1982 when the individual sack became an official statistic. Peppers didn’t get a sack though and finished the game with just one tackle in the Panthers’ loss to the Seahawks.

Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans leads Tampa Bay in receiving yards this season. Evans needed 43 yards on Sunday against the 49ers to join Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss (six consecutive seasons) and A.J. Green (five consecutive seasons) as the only players in NFL history with at least 1,000 receiving yards in each of their first five seasons. Evans finished the game with 116 yards on six catches and joined that elusive club.

The Vikings are back on Sunday Night Football for the second week in a row and again will play one of their NFC North rivals. This time, it’s the Packers and Aaron Rodgers is going into the game having thrown 26 touchdowns against zero interceptions for a 115.6 passer rating in his past 10 games against the NFC North. Rodgers needs three touchdown passes without an interception to have the most consecutive touchdowns without an interception by a player against any division since 2002.

Big moments

The Browns trolled the Bengals all game long and made it incredibly fun to watch for everyone other than Cincinnati fans. Baker Mayfield finished with 258 passing yards, four touchdowns, and a 143.9 passer rating. Meanwhile, Andy Dalton injured his thumb for the second time in four years and Jeff Driskel had to fill in for him in the second half of what turned into a big Browns win.

In a rematch of one of last year’s Wild Card playoff games, the Bills beat the Jaguars in a dramatic game that included two players getting ejected. Here’s everything to know about the fight that saw Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette and Bills defensive end Shaq Lawson kicked out of the game. Before the Jaguars lost, Jalen Ramsey was having fun calling everyone trash.

Philip Rivers dominated in the Chargers’ 45-10 win over the Cardinals. The game got so out of hand, that the Chargers actually pulled Rivers and let him watch most of the fourth quarter from the sidelines as Geno Smith came in at quarterback. Rivers completed 23 straight passes in the game, which broken an NFL record. Rivers finished 28/29 for 259 yards, three touchdowns, and a 138.4 passer rating.

NFL Week 12 schedule and scores

Thursday, November 22

Bears 23, Lions 16
Washington 23, Cowboys 31
Falcons 17, Saints 31

Sunday, November 25

49ers 9, Buccaneers 27
Giants 22, Eagles 25
Patriots 27, Jets 13
Raiders 17, Ravens 34
Seahawks 30, Panthers 27
Browns 35 Bengals 20
Jaguars 21, Bills 24
Cardinals 10, Chargers 45
Dolphins at Colts, 4:25 p.m. (CBS)
Steelers at Broncos, 4:25 p.m. (CBS)
Packers at Vikings, 8:20 p.m. (NBC)

Monday, November 26

Titans at Texans, 8:15 p.m. (ESPN)