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From buccaneers.com
<TABLE width=575 border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=ver12bold>For the first time in franchise history, the Buccaneers will play on Thanksgiving Day, as the NFL is sending the defending NFC South champs to Dallas on November 23</TD></TR><TR><TD class=NewsHeadline vAlign=top>Gobble It Up: Bucs on Thanksgiving</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE width=575><TBODY><TR><TD class=ver10 vAlign=bottom>LB Derrick Brooks and the Buccaneers haven't been to Dallas since 2001, and they have never played on Thanksgiving before</TD></TR><TR><TD class=ver12 colSpan=2>
Mar 27, 2006 -
If you?ve always wanted to combine your Thanksgiving turkey with a little Tampa Bay Buccaneers football, then make sure to give thanks this year to the National Football League schedule-makers.
The NFL has yet to release its full week-by-week schedule for the 2006 season, but on Monday it parceled out a little morsel for hungry football fans: Details on the nationally-televised games for opening weekend and Thanksgiving Day.
And the Buccaneers are on it. Playing on Thanksgiving for the first time in its 31-year history, Tampa Bay will visit the Dallas Cowboys on November 23. It will be the middle game of three scheduled for the holiday, kicking off at 4:15 p.m. ET, just in time for the turkey?s tryptophan to have worn off.
</TD><TR><TD colSpan=2><TABLE class=ver12 width=575><TBODY><TR><TD class=ver12 colSpan=3>The Bucs aren?t the only new thing to the NFL?s Thanksgiving schedule. As you may have noticed above, there are three games on that November holiday this year. Dallas and Detroit will host the two afternoon games, as usual (Minnesota visits the Lions for a 12:30 p.m. ET kickoff), but an evening game has been added, to be carried on the NFL Network. The inaugural Thanksgiving night game will feature a classic AFC West rivalry, Denver at Kansas City, kicking off at 8:00 p.m. ET.
But it?s Thanksgiving Day that is big news for Bucs fans. After 2005, in which the Bucs had no Sunday or Monday night games for the first time since 1989, there was strong hope that the team would be back in prime team in 2006 after going 11-5 and winning the NFC South. The full schedule may eventually reveal Sunday or Monday nighters for Tampa Bay, but at the very least the team will be part of the nation?s second favorite Thanksgiving tradition.
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</TD></TR><TR><TD class=ver12 colSpan=2>The Bucs will also be going back to Dallas for the first time since 2001, when they opened that season with a 10-6 road win over the Cowboys. The two teams haven?t met since Tampa Bay?s 16-0 win in Tampa in 2003, but they were more recently linked when they swapped star receivers during the 2004 offseason. The Bucs received Joey Galloway in the deal, and Galloway re-emerged as one of the league?s best receivers last year after an injury-shortened 2004. Keyshawn Johnson went to the Cowboys in the trade and had two productive years in Dallas before being released earlier this month. The Cowboys filled Johnson?s spot with former Eagle Terrell Owens, who is an intriguing subplot of his own.
Dallas leads the all-time series with Tampa Bay 6-3, though the Bucs have won the last three. The Cowboys also have two playoff victories over Tampa Bay, after the 1981 and ?82 seasons. Last year, Dallas finished 9-7 and in third place in the NFC East but were in playoff contention until the final weekend.
As for opening weekend, the NFL will continue its relatively new tradition of kicking off the season with a premier matchup on the Thursday before the first full weekend. Since 2004, that first game has been scheduled at the home of the defending Super Bowl champs, and that means an opener in Pittsburgh on September 7, with Miami visiting. That game will be carried on NBC and will kick off at 8:30 p.m. ET.
The following Monday will feature the first-ever Monday Night Football doubleheader, as that popular series switches to ESPN. The first game will kick off at 7:00 p.m. ET, with the Minnesota Vikings visiting the Washington Redskins. The nightcap, at 10:15 p.m. ET, will pit the San Diego Chargers against the Oakland Raiders in the Bay area.
The Sunday night game on NBC ? that series was previously on ESPN ? will feature a matchup of the Manning brothers, as Peyton and the Indianapolis Colts travel to New York to take on Eli and the New York Giants at 8:15 p.m. ET. The first Sunday afternoon double-header on Fox will be a 4:15 p.m. ET matchup of the Cowboys at the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Bucs have played on Thursday before. Most recently, the team traveled to Detroit for a Thursday night game on ESPN in 2000, losing 28-14 to the Lions on October 18. In fact, the first regular-season prime time game in franchise history was on a Thursday night, when the Bucs played host to the Los Angeles Rams on September 11, 1980. In a rematch of the previous year?s NFC Championship Game, which the Rams won 9-0 to advance to Super Bowl XIV, the Buccaneers pulled out a 10-9 victory and gained a small measure of revenge.
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From buccaneers.com<TABLE width=575 border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=ver12bold>For the first time in franchise history, the Buccaneers will play on Thanksgiving Day, as the NFL is sending the defending NFC South champs to Dallas on November 23</TD></TR><TR><TD class=NewsHeadline vAlign=top>Gobble It Up: Bucs on Thanksgiving</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE width=575><TBODY><TR><TD class=ver10 vAlign=bottom>LB Derrick Brooks and the Buccaneers haven't been to Dallas since 2001, and they have never played on Thanksgiving before</TD></TR><TR><TD class=ver12 colSpan=2>
Mar 27, 2006 -
If you?ve always wanted to combine your Thanksgiving turkey with a little Tampa Bay Buccaneers football, then make sure to give thanks this year to the National Football League schedule-makers.
The NFL has yet to release its full week-by-week schedule for the 2006 season, but on Monday it parceled out a little morsel for hungry football fans: Details on the nationally-televised games for opening weekend and Thanksgiving Day.
And the Buccaneers are on it. Playing on Thanksgiving for the first time in its 31-year history, Tampa Bay will visit the Dallas Cowboys on November 23. It will be the middle game of three scheduled for the holiday, kicking off at 4:15 p.m. ET, just in time for the turkey?s tryptophan to have worn off.
</TD><TR><TD colSpan=2><TABLE class=ver12 width=575><TBODY><TR><TD class=ver12 colSpan=3>The Bucs aren?t the only new thing to the NFL?s Thanksgiving schedule. As you may have noticed above, there are three games on that November holiday this year. Dallas and Detroit will host the two afternoon games, as usual (Minnesota visits the Lions for a 12:30 p.m. ET kickoff), but an evening game has been added, to be carried on the NFL Network. The inaugural Thanksgiving night game will feature a classic AFC West rivalry, Denver at Kansas City, kicking off at 8:00 p.m. ET.
But it?s Thanksgiving Day that is big news for Bucs fans. After 2005, in which the Bucs had no Sunday or Monday night games for the first time since 1989, there was strong hope that the team would be back in prime team in 2006 after going 11-5 and winning the NFC South. The full schedule may eventually reveal Sunday or Monday nighters for Tampa Bay, but at the very least the team will be part of the nation?s second favorite Thanksgiving tradition.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=ver12 colSpan=2>The Bucs will also be going back to Dallas for the first time since 2001, when they opened that season with a 10-6 road win over the Cowboys. The two teams haven?t met since Tampa Bay?s 16-0 win in Tampa in 2003, but they were more recently linked when they swapped star receivers during the 2004 offseason. The Bucs received Joey Galloway in the deal, and Galloway re-emerged as one of the league?s best receivers last year after an injury-shortened 2004. Keyshawn Johnson went to the Cowboys in the trade and had two productive years in Dallas before being released earlier this month. The Cowboys filled Johnson?s spot with former Eagle Terrell Owens, who is an intriguing subplot of his own.
Dallas leads the all-time series with Tampa Bay 6-3, though the Bucs have won the last three. The Cowboys also have two playoff victories over Tampa Bay, after the 1981 and ?82 seasons. Last year, Dallas finished 9-7 and in third place in the NFC East but were in playoff contention until the final weekend.
As for opening weekend, the NFL will continue its relatively new tradition of kicking off the season with a premier matchup on the Thursday before the first full weekend. Since 2004, that first game has been scheduled at the home of the defending Super Bowl champs, and that means an opener in Pittsburgh on September 7, with Miami visiting. That game will be carried on NBC and will kick off at 8:30 p.m. ET.
The following Monday will feature the first-ever Monday Night Football doubleheader, as that popular series switches to ESPN. The first game will kick off at 7:00 p.m. ET, with the Minnesota Vikings visiting the Washington Redskins. The nightcap, at 10:15 p.m. ET, will pit the San Diego Chargers against the Oakland Raiders in the Bay area.
The Sunday night game on NBC ? that series was previously on ESPN ? will feature a matchup of the Manning brothers, as Peyton and the Indianapolis Colts travel to New York to take on Eli and the New York Giants at 8:15 p.m. ET. The first Sunday afternoon double-header on Fox will be a 4:15 p.m. ET matchup of the Cowboys at the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Bucs have played on Thursday before. Most recently, the team traveled to Detroit for a Thursday night game on ESPN in 2000, losing 28-14 to the Lions on October 18. In fact, the first regular-season prime time game in franchise history was on a Thursday night, when the Bucs played host to the Los Angeles Rams on September 11, 1980. In a rematch of the previous year?s NFC Championship Game, which the Rams won 9-0 to advance to Super Bowl XIV, the Buccaneers pulled out a 10-9 victory and gained a small measure of revenge.
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