The NFL Is Turning the Rams Into America’s Holiday Team

Is there a better way to celebrate the family, food, and thankfulness of Thanksgiving week than with your favorite football team? Is there a better way to celebrate the joy and togetherness of Christmas than with your favorite football team?

Rams fans are about to find out.

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The NFL has made it clear that it’s hell-bent on dominating our television sets as much as possible during the holidays (and every day of the week, but that’s a story for another post). This year, Los Angeles gets to play on both of the biggest late-calendar holidays, territory that is relatively unfamiliar for this franchise.

The Rams technically won’t be playing on Thanksgiving itself, but rather Thanksgiving Eve (or Blackout Wednesday for those of you planning to visit your hometown that night), but there’s not history to draw from on that night since this will be the first-ever Thanksgiving Eve NFL game.

Unlike their Week 11 opponents, the Green Bay Packers, who have played on Thanksgiving more than any franchise besides the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys, the Rams have only played on that day five times and not since 1975. It has been a fruitful holiday for the franchise, however, the Rams are 4-1 all-time on Thanksgiving. Funny enough, the Packers will also be playing on Christmas this year.

Most recently, in that 1975 game, the Rams shut out the Lions 20-0 behind 106 receiving yards and two touchdowns from Harold Jackson. That victory sparked an end-of-season stretch of four straight games allowing seven or fewer points.

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The team’s only Thanksgiving loss came four years prior in a heartbreaking 28-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

The most historically interesting Thanksgiving game for the Rams came before the franchise moved to Los Angeles the first time, and before it even joined the NFL. As the Cleveland Rams of the AFL (though not the AFL that later merged with the NFL, nor the first AFL in existence), they upended the Rochester Tigers 7-6 in 1936 behind starting quarterback Stan Pincura.

There’s even less Rams history on Christmas Day, although their 2022 matchup with the Denver Broncos was certainly a gift. The Baker Mayfield-led Rams annihilated the hapless Broncos 51-14 that year. Admittedly, though, that game is probably remembered less for Mayfield’s 24-of-28 passing performance and more for Russell Wilson getting roasted by a cartoon character.