Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts after beating the Rams on Nov. 24, 2024. Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts after beating the Rams on Nov. 24, 2024. (Alex Gallardo/Imagn Images.)

Here’s a look at the announcing assignments for Week 13 of the NFL season, including Thanksgiving Day, with some discussion of a featured game or games in each slot based on broadcasters, matchups, or both. All times are Eastern.

Thursday, November 28 — Thanksgiving Day

Featured game 1: Chicago at Detroit
CBS/Paramount+ 12:30 p.m.
Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, Tracy Wolfson
Westwood One: Jason Benetti, Ryan Leaf

Amon-Ra St. Brown against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Nov. 17, 2024.
Amon-Ra St. Brown against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Nov. 17, 2024. (Junfu Han/The Detroit Free Press, via Imagn Images.)

This might be the most appealing Thanksgiving matchup, with the 10-1 Lions looking to get their first Thanksgiving victory since 2016 against a long-time NFC North rival in the Bears. Chicago is a 9.5-point road underdog here, and the Bears are coming into this off five straight losses, so a close contest isn’t guaranteed. But they’ve looked a bit better in the past two weeks, losing by just one point to Green Bay (on a blocked field goal) and just three to Minnesota (in overtime).

A key figure to watch for Detroit is receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, featured in this summer’s Netflix series Receiver. St. Brown has been listed as questionable this week, and didn’t participate in practice Monday, but looks likely to be available for this one. He has 747 receiving yards and nine touchdowns this year, both team-highs.

Meanwhile, for Chicago, receiver D.J. Moore has seen dramatic changes in how he’s used following the Week 11 change to Thomas Brown as offensive coordinator, going from averaging 9.8 air yards per target to 1.9. Throwing to him in the backfield or on short routes has worked well, though, with him putting up 62 and 106 yards in the past two weeks (up from 33 and 24 the prior two weeks). On the year, Moore has proven to be rookie QB Caleb Williams’ favorite weapon, leading the Bears in targets (80), receptions (54), receiving yards (566), and receiving touchdowns (four).

Featured game 2: NY Giants at Dallas
Fox 4:30 p.m.
Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady, Erin Andrews, Tom Rinaldi
Westwood One Radio: John Sadak, Phil Simms

Cooper Rush against the Eagles on Nov. 10, 2024.
Cooper Rush against the Eagles on Nov. 10, 2024. (Tim Heitman/Imagn Images.)

While the earlier matchup seems more appealing than this clash of the 2-9 Giants and 4-7 Cowboys (which sets up potentially as more the youth football game in 1994’s Little Giants than a prominent NFL contest in terms of football quality), there’s a good chance this one may still win the ratings fight considering the markets involved and the time slot. And there are some stakes here, especially for 3.5-point home favorite Dallas; a win would keep the Cowboys’ slim playoff hopes alive, at least for a couple weeks further.

For Dallas, QB Cooper Rush looks set to be available despite a knee injury. Rush has made two backup appearances this season (including one in the Week 9 game where Dak Prescott suffered a season-ending injury) and three starts. His first start, against Philadelphia in Week 10, saw him throw for just 45 yards, but he’s thrown for 354 and 247 yards the last two weeks, with the latter performance coming in an impressive win over Washington.

Meanwhile, a forearm injury to “Tommy Cutlets” Devito means the Giants look likely to turn to their third starter of the season in Drew Lock. (They recently cut season-opening starter Daniel Jones.) We’ll see how Brady (who DeVito saw wild comparisons to last year) breaks down these QBs.

Featured game 3: Miami at Green Bay
NBC/Universo/Peacock 8:20 p.m.
Mike Tirico, Jason Garrett, Melissa Stark
Universo: Miguel Gurwitz, Rolando Cantú, Ariana Figuera
Westwood One Radio: Ryan Radtke, Derek Rackley

Xavier McKinney (R) and Carrington Valentine against the 49ers on Nov. 24, 2024.
Xavier McKinney (R) and Carrington Valentine against the 49ers on Nov. 24, 2024. (Dan Powers/The Appleton Post-Crescent, via USA Today Sports.)

The Thanksgiving nightcap has a close spread (the Packers are 3.5-point home favorites), unlike the Bears-Lions opener. And it has two decent teams (the Dolphins and Packers are 5-6 and 8-3), unlike the Giants-Cowboys midday game. There also could be some weather impacts here, with temperatures expected to drop as low as 19 degrees and steady winds of 10 to 15 miles per hour projected. And it looks like this will be the coldest game of the season so far for the Dolphins, so it will be interesting to see how they handle that.

Miami QB Tua Tagavailoa remains a focus of debate following his decision to keep playing following his recovery from an early-season concussion, one of many he’s faced over the years. But he’s been effective the past few weeks in particular, throwing for 288 and 317 yards in a pair of Dolphins’ wins. He’ll have to watch out for Packers’ safety Xavier McKinney, though, who’s tied for the league lead with seven interceptions on the year.

Friday, November 29 — Black Friday

Featured/only game: Las Vegas at Kansas City
Prime Video 3 p.m.
Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit, Kaylee Hartung
Spanish: Miguel Gurwitz, Rolando Cantú
Westwood One Radio: Kevin Kugler, James Lofton

Brock Bowers against the Dolphins on Nov. 17, 2024.
Brock Bowers against the Dolphins on Nov. 17, 2024. (Sam Navarro/Imagn Images.)

The second Prime Video Black Friday game, following Jets-Dolphins last year, at least has one good team involved. Indeed, even Raiders’ head coach Antonio Pierce discussed that this week, describing it as “Best team in football against the worst team in football.”

That’s not really hyperbole, either. The Chiefs are reigning Super Bowl champions and have a league-best 10-1 mark, while the Raiders (12.5-point road underdogs) are tied for the NFL’s worst record at 2-9 and tied for its worst point differential at -108. But there’s a long rivalry history here, and rivalry games can sometimes get weird. And Kansas City lost to the Bills two weeks back and only beat the Panthers by three points Sunday.

A lot of the discussion of the Chiefs’ narrow escapes this year has been about QB Patrick Mahomes not putting up the numbers we typically see from him, but it’s also worth keeping an eye on RB Kareem Hunt. Hunt has a team-high 577 rushing yards and five touchdowns this year, but is averaging just 3.7 yards per carry, well below his career average of 4.2. (Although, he averaged 3.0 YPC last year in Cleveland, and 3.8 the year before.) For Las Vegas, tight end Brock Bowers remains a key focus; he leads the team in receiving yards (744), touchdowns (three), catches (74) and targets (99).

Sunday, December 1, early window

Featured game 1: LA Chargers at Atlanta
CBS/Paramount+ 12:30 p.m.
Kevin Harlan, Trent Green, Melanie Collins
ESPN Radio: Steve Levy, Harry Douglas, Jeff Darlington

Ladd McConkey against the Saints on Oct. 27, 2024.
Ladd McConkey against the Saints on Oct. 27, 2024. (Gary A. Vasquez/Imagn Images.)

This game is only going to California, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and some parts of surrounding states, with the below Steelers-Bengals one getting wider distribution, but there are reasons to watch this if you can. Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers are 7-4 and have been hot, winning four straight before losing the HarBowl against brother John and the Ravens Monday. And they enter as 2.5-point road favorites. But the 6-5 Falcons aren’t a pushover (although they’ve lost their last two), and a win here could give them some space atop the NFC South.

For the Chargers, WR Ladd McConkey is a key feature. He has a team-high 698 receiving yards, plus four touchdowns, and caught all six of his targets last week for 83 yards. For the Falcons, QB Kirk Cousins has struggled lately, throwing an interception and no touchdowns in both of those last two losses, and only throwing for 173 yards in a 38-6 thumping from Denver last week. But he’s thrown for 2,807 yards and 17 touchdowns (with a 68.1 percent completion mark) against nine interceptions this year. We’ll see if he can get back to form Sunday.

Featured game 2: Pittsburgh at Cincinnati
CBS/Paramount+ 1 p.m.
Ian Eagle, Charles Davis, Evan Washburn
Sports USA Radio: Larry Kahn, Ron Rivera

Joe Burrow after a loss to the Chargers on Nov. 17, 2024.
Joe Burrow after a loss to the Chargers on Nov. 17, 2024. (Sam Greene/The Cincinnati Enquirer, via USA Today Sports.)

The Bengals are certainly one of the most interesting teams with a losing record, coming into this one at 4-7 and fresh off a bye. They’ve dropped their last two, falling 31-24 to the Chargers two weeks back and 35-34 to the Ravens the week before that, but they have an explosive offense, averaging a league-best 262.7 passing yards per game. Meanwhile, the 8-3 Steelers have been much more successful on the season, but their 192.8 passing yards per game are seventh-worst in the NFL, and they’re three-point road underdogs here.

A big part of that passing yardage discrepancy is about the quarterbacks. Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow is third in the league with 3,028 passing yards to date. And he’s been efficient, throwing 27 touchdowns (tied for the NFL lead) against four interceptions with a 67.2 percent completion mark.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh’s Russell Wilson’s 1,212 passing yards are tied to him only coming in partway through this year after recovering from injury, but that’s still just 242.4 yards per game (versus Burrow’s 275.3), and he’s completed just 63.1 percent of his passes (but does have seven touchdowns against two interceptions). He and the Steelers have often found ways to win despite that, but they are coming off a 24-19 loss to the lowly Browns (3-8); we’ll see what they do here.

Houston at Jacksonville
Fox 1 p.m.
Kevin Kugler, Daryl Johnston, Laura Okmin

Arizona at Minnesota
Fox 1 p.m.
Joe Davis, Greg Olsen, Pam Oliver
Compass Media Radio: Alex Del Barrio, Brian Baldinger

Indianapolis at New England
CBS/Paramount+ 1 p.m.
Spero Dedes, Adam Archuleta, Aditi Kinkhabwala

Seattle at NY Jets
Fox 1 p.m.
Adam Amin, Mark Sanchez, Kristina Pink

Tennessee at Washington
CBS/Paramount+ 1 p.m.
Andrew Catalon, Tiki Barber, Jason McCourty, AJ Ross

Sunday, December 1, afternoon window

Tampa Bay at Carolina
Fox 4:05 p.m.
Chris Myers, Mark Schlereth, Jen Hale
ESPN Radio: Mike Couzens, Kelly Stouffer

LA Rams at New Orleans
Fox 4:05 p.m.
Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma, Megan Olivi
Compass Media Radio: Bill Rosinski, Merrill Hoge

Featured game: Philadelphia at Baltimore
CBS/Paramount+ 4:25 p.m.
Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, Tracy Wolfson
Sports USA Radio: Josh Appel, Brandon Noble

Derrick Henry against the Chargers on Nov. 25, 2024.
Derrick Henry against the Chargers on Nov. 25, 2024. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images.)

The 9-2 Eagles at the 8-4 Ravens looks like one of the best games of the week. Philadelphia has won seven straight, but Baltimore’s coming off that aforementioned HarBowl win after a loss to the Steelers the previous week. The Ravens are three-point home favorites, and certainly look like the toughest challenge the Eagles have faced in a while.

For Philadelphia, RB Saquon Barkley continues to be a major story. He’s a big part of their league-leading 193.4 rushing yards per game, and has a NFL-high 1,392 rushing yards this season (with 10 touchdowns and a 6.3 yards-per-carry average). But Baltimore’s Derrick Henry is second with 1,325 rushing yards (6.0 YPC), and has a league-best 13 rushing touchdowns.

Thus, this could be a great clash of offenses that excel at running the ball. The Ravens also have the league passing leader in Lamar Jackson (3,053 yards), though, so they’re a bit more balanced than the Eagles (Jalen Hurts has 2,376 passing yards, 17th in the league). We’ll see how that plays out Sunday.

Sunday, December 1, Sunday Night Football

Featured/only game: San Francisco at Buffalo
NBC/Universo/Peacock 8:20 p.m.
Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth, Melissa Stark
Universo: Miguel Gurwitz, Rolando Cantú, Ariana Figuera
Westwood One Radio: Ryan Radtke, Ross Tucker

Christian McCaffrey against the Packers on Nov. 24, 2024.
Christian McCaffrey against the Packers on Nov. 24, 2024. (Jeff Hanisch/Imagn Images.)

Sunday night’s forecast calls for lake-effect snow, winds of up to 30 miles per hour, and cold temperatures (lows of around 25 degrees). So that could be a big challenge for the visiting 49ers, and may be part of why they’re seven-point underdogs here. Their 5-6 record’s another part of that, though, with the Bills a more impressive 9-2.

A key question for the 49ers is about RB Christian McCaffrey, who’s averaged just 3.5 yards per rush in three games since returning from a season-starting injury. There’s been a lot of secrecy and mixed messages from the team about his injuries and how much offseason work he was able to get in. And there will be a lot of focus on him here.

Meanwhile, Bills’ RB James Cook may also see a heavy load in this one if the weather is bad. He has a team-high 596 rushing yards this season (4.3 yards per carry) and 10 touchdowns. He was held to just 20 yards on nine carries (2.2 yards per carry) in their last game, the win over the Chiefs two weeks back, but some of those were in short yardage, and he did have two touchdowns there. He’ll be worth keeping an eye on Sunday.

Monday, December 2, Monday Night Football

Featured/only game: Cleveland at Denver
ABC & ESPN/ESPN Deportes 8:15 p.m.
Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters
ESPN Deportes: Rebeca Landa, Sebastián Martinez-Christensen, MJ Acosta-Ruiz
Westwood One Radio: Kevin Harlan, Kurt Warner

Jameis Winston (5) celebrates with teammates after a TD against Pittsburgh on Nov. 21, 2024.
Nov 21, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver Elijah Moore (8) and quarterback Jameis Winston (5) and tight end David Njoku (85) celebrate after Winston scored a touchdown during the second half against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Nov. 21, 2024. (Ken Blaze/Imagn Images.)

While the Browns are certainly struggling on the year, entering at 3-8, they’re coming off one of their best games of the year. That would be the aforementioned 24-19 win over the Steelers last Thursday. We’ll see if they can build on that against the 7-5 Broncos, who are also hot, having won two straight following a close loss to the Chiefs. Denver is a 5.5-point favorite at home, but the Broncos have often been up and down this season, so they’re far from a lock here.

Browns’ QB Jameis Winston has had some interesting games since taking over for the injured Deshaun Watson. He threw for 395 yards and two touchdowns in a loss to the Saints two weeks back, then was held to 219 yards and an interception in last week’s win against Pittsburgh. We’ll see which way his numbers go this week. Broncos’ QB Bo Nix has also had a roller-coaster year, but has eight touchdowns and no interceptions across his last three games, including a 273-yard, two-TD performance in last week’s win over the Raiders.

Bye: None.

H/T Sammy for the listings!

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.