The holiday gauntlet did not disappoint. In this episode of Football Army, we unpack an absolutely wild stretch of games that started with the Thanksgiving triple header, rolled straight into the first-ever Black Friday showdown, and now crashes headfirst into the chaos of College Rivalry Week.

We start with a full breakdown of how Thanksgiving reshaped the NFL. Green Bay’s aggressive, go-for-broke philosophy powers a seismic 31–24 win in Detroit, completing a season sweep of the Lions and turning the NFC North into a three-team dogfight. We get into Matt LaFleur’s fourth-down mindset, Jordan Love’s history-making four-TD performance, and undrafted rookie Dontayvion Wicks’ breakout on a day where he’s literally making game-sealing plays with one shoe. We also look at what the loss – and key injuries – mean for a suddenly reeling Lions team whose trademark fourth-down swagger has gone ice cold.

From there, we shift to Cowboys–Chiefs, where Dallas delivers an emotional statement win over the defending AFC champs. Dak Prescott and the Cowboys offense find real balance behind a dominant offensive line and revived run game, while Micah Parsons continues his march into the record books as a generational game wrecker. We dig into how Dallas is channeling tragedy into a three-game win streak, the impact of Post Malone’s halftime tribute, and why this locker room feels different. Then we flip the lens to the Chiefs: Mahomes puts up a perfect stat line and still loses, the offensive line falls apart with major injuries, and Kansas City’s playoff odds suddenly look frighteningly fragile.

The nightcap belongs to Joe Burrow and the Bengals, who stun the Ravens 32–14 in his first game back from injury. We walk through how Burrow instantly transforms Cincinnati’s ceiling, how Baltimore coughs up the ball five times on a nightmare turnover night, and why Derrick Henry’s historic milestones are overshadowed by baffling usage and an offense that has lost its identity. We also hit key injury updates around the league and what they mean for teams like the Colts as we head into the stretch run.

Then it’s on to college football’s most chaotic weekend of the year. We set the stage for a potentially dangerous Iron Bowl, with Auburn playing fast and fearless at home and Alabama trying to hang onto its faint playoff hopes behind a slumping quarterback and a defense that may have to win it the hard way. We zoom out to the rest of Rivalry Week – from Ohio State–Michigan to SEC showdowns – and sketch the most likely paths to the College Football Playoff if the favorites survive the upset minefield.

Finally, we zoom back in on the big picture: razor-thin margins across every major division, the NFC North suddenly up for grabs, the AFC hierarchy wobbling, and one giant, looming question. With a broken offensive line, brutal inconsistency, and zero margin for error left, can Patrick Mahomes really drag this version of the Chiefs through a must-win schedule and back into January – or has the magic finally run out?

Thanksgiving week turns into full -blown football chaos on this episode of Football Army.

We kick things off with the tradition itself: Thanksgiving Day football. The hosts walk you through the entire three-game NFL slate – Packers at Lions, Chiefs at Cowboys, and Bengals at Ravens – laying out the history, matchups, and betting angles that will shape the playoff picture. From Detroit’s revenge mission against Green Bay and Jameer Gibbs’ historic tear, to Dak Prescott torching defenses off play-action and Joe Burrow’s risky return from turf toe, every game gets the “how they actually win” treatment. Along the way, we celebrate the legacy of John Madden, from the turducken coin toss to the Madden Thanksgiving MVP awards and youth football donations in his name.

Then it’s time to zoom out to the league-wide storylines. In the NFC East, the Philadelphia meltdown takes center stage: blown leads, ugly third-and-out numbers, A.J. Brown’s visible frustration, and an offense that suddenly looks broken. In Dallas, CeeDee Lamb owns his drops while George Pickens’ breakout season creates a future contract headache for the Cowboys’ cap sheet. We hit the hot seat report too: the Raiders in free fall, Pete Carroll facing real one-and-done rumors, Zach Taylor’s Bengals sliding away from their recent AFC title heights, and Mike McDaniel’s shot to coach himself off the bubble.

Quarterback drama is everywhere. The crew breaks down the polarizing rise of rookie Shedeur Sanders in Cleveland – first-start win, long-term starter status, and the cultural storm around his confidence, flash, and how he’s evaluated compared to other QBs. They unpack Emmanuel Acho’s claims of systemic bias and Kendrick Perkins’ “most powerful Black man in sports” label, and ask what kind of pressure that puts on a rookie who’s barely begun his NFL journey.

On the transaction and injury front, it’s a busy week: the all-in Bills cut Elijah Moore and bring in veteran deep threat Brandin Cooks, Washington starts preparing for life after Bobby Wagner, New England faces a nightmare at left tackle, the Chiefs lose a starting guard for Thanksgiving, Drake London’s status complicates the Falcons’ passing game, and the league may have figured out the Colts by simply erasing Jonathan Taylor.

Then we flip to college football for rivalry week, spotlighting a seismic edition of The Game: No. 1 Ohio State at No. 18 Michigan in Ann Arbor. The hosts explain why this is essentially a playoff elimination game, why Michigan’s run-heavy identity is in jeopardy with Justice Haynes doubtful, and how Ohio State’s suffocating defense and five-star receivers create a nightmare matchup. They also break down the wild trend of Michigan repeatedly defying the spread in this rivalry and touch on the coaching carousel as Jim Mora bolts UConn for Colorado State.

Finally, it’s crunch time for fantasy managers. You get a full Week 13 snapshot: Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes, and Joe Burrow’s return ranked for fantasy; Gibbs elevated to elite RB1 status; the minefield that is the Chiefs’ backfield; Saquon Barkley as a volume-only play; and deep-league stashes like Chimere Dyke. The episode closes with a bigger question: over the next six weeks, will stars like Hurts, Mahomes, Lamar Jackson – and lightning rods like Brock Purdy, J.J. McCarthy, Daniel Jones, and Shedeur Sanders – prove they truly have the clutch gene when everything is on the line?

If you care about NFL playoff races, college football rivalries, coaching futures, and winning your fantasy league all at once, this is the Thanksgiving week breakdown you don’t skip.

Week 12 didn’t just move the needle – it ripped the entire playoff picture off the wall and hung it back up sideways. In this episode of Football Army, we dive into one of the most chaotic weekends of the season, where both the NFL and college football landscape got completely reorganized in a matter of hours.

We start in the NFC, where everything now runs through Los Angeles. The Rams move to 9–2 with a ruthless 34–7 dismantling of the Buccaneers, powered by a surgical Matthew Stafford performance and a McVay game plan that had Tampa’s defense spinning. From schemed-open Devontae Adams touchdowns to backup tight end Colby Parkinson stepping in seamlessly, this was the definition of a complete team statement. On the other side, the defense smothered the Bucs, with Emmanuel Forbes Jr. posting a perfect coverage day and the pass rush feasting to turn this into a “message win” for the rest of the conference.

Then it’s over to Philadelphia, where the Eagles suffered a collapse that will live in rivalry infamy. Up 21–0 on the road in Dallas, they somehow lose 24–21, going scoreless for the final 41 minutes and 30 seconds. We break down how a statistically bad Cowboys defense suddenly looked like the ’85 Bears, why first-year OC Kevin Petullo is under the hottest spotlight in the league, and how CeeDee Lamb’s nightmare outing and sideline tantrum clashed with George Pickens’ breakout and composure in Dallas’ comeback.

From there, we zoom out to the NFC playoff race, where the Chicago Bears have completely changed the math. Now 8–3 after a gritty win over the Steelers, Caleb Williams and OC Ben Johnson are building an offense around quick-game timing, anticipation and smart scheming that hides offensive line flaws and punishes defenses. Even with catastrophic injuries at linebacker, the Bears’ “next man up” defense keeps delivering, turning the North into a three-way war with the Packers and Lions, while the Seahawks and 49ers slug it out out West. Every game is basically a playoff game now, and we walk through just how razor-thin the margin is between a home playoff berth and missing out entirely.

In the AFC, the “dead” dynasty might not be so dead after all. The New England Patriots have quietly ripped off nine straight wins to move to 10–2, reclaiming control of the AFC East from the Bills for the first time since Brady left. We break down how the Mike Vrabel–Drake Maye combo is winning with defense, discipline, and mistake-free football – and what the Will Campbell injury means for their stretch run. But the biggest individual story of the week is in Cleveland: Myles Garrett is on a truly historic tear, with 18 sacks in 11 games and a record-breaking four-game stretch. We explain how the Browns’ beefed-up interior line is forcing quarterbacks into Garrett’s path, turning every dropback into a horror movie and making his DPOY case feel almost too small for what he’s doing.

We also take you through the coaching fallout and identity crises across the league: Shédeur Sanders gets his first win behind that Browns defense while his performance helps push Raiders OC Chip Kelly out of a job. The Jets continue to sink behind risky fourth-down decisions even as Aaron Glenn shows real leadership with his players. The Falcons, meanwhile, might finally be building something real with a young, relentless pass rush and a throwback, under-center, ground-and-pound offense that just unlocked vintage Kirk Cousins.