Patriots Vs. Vikings: How To Watch, Stream, Listen, And More: Special Thanksgiving Edition
As usual, there are plenty of different ways to watch the game for all types of viewers. Here’s an updated, compiled list of how you can get in on the action for Thursday’s game between the New England Patriots and the Minnesota Vikings.
The New England Patriots and Thanksgiving Day. For us Patriots fans who celebrate Thanksgiving, there couldn’t possibly be a sweeter combination and alignment of a holiday and a regular season NFL game. This is the holy grail, basically. It makes both the game better and the holiday better. The fact that it’s a night game is even sweeter.
Typically, during the usual Thanksgiving-day NFL slate, you might get yelled at to join the family at the table and end up missing a portion of the traditional NFL action that ties into the other rich traditions of the holiday. Luckily for us, this year, there’s no way families anywhere will still be eating Thanksgiving at 8:20 PM (besides those who perhaps are carefully planning their Thanksgiving feast to directly revolve around the fact that there IS a Thanksgiving Day Patriots game at 8:20 PM).
Either way, this is one of the most exciting days of the year for more than one reason, and whilst we’re chomping at the bit for both the feast and the game tomorrow, I thought it would be fun to quickly go over the history of the rest of the Patriot’s games played on Thanksgiving up to now.
The Patriots have previously played on Thanksgiving day a total of 5 times, in 1984, 2000, 2002, 2010, and 2012, with a combined record of 3-2. There are some incredibly memorable moments to have happened during these games over the years, and it’s very obviously worth mentioning some of them for the sake of history and tradition. We’ll go year by year quickly before getting into the watching options for this week.
1984: Patriots Vs. Cowboys. Patriots QB Tony Eason was sacked ten times in what was still a very close and competitive game that the Cowboys barely managed to escape with a victory. Final score: Cowboys 20, Patriots 17.
2000: Patriots @ Lions. Tom Brady made his NFL debut on this day, replacing a struggling Drew Bledsoe. Brady threw for a whopping 6 yards, completing one pass on three attempts. The Patriots got crushed 34-9.
2002: Patriots @ Lions. Brady, who was the starter now obviously, put up somewhat underwhelming numbers as he tended to do during his early years, throwing for 201 yards and no TDs. The Patriot’s defense did most of the work in this game, with Willie Mcginest, Tedy Bruschi, and Bobby Hamilton all recording interceptions. The Lion’s only points came from four field goals, and the Patriots managed to eke out a victory 20-12.
2010: Patriots @ Lions. The Patriots played an incredible game this year, with Tom Brady leading the charge, throwing for 341 yards and four TDs while amassing a perfect passer rating. Current Patriot Devin McCourty also picked off Detroit QB Shaun Hill two times whilst simultaneously holding Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson to only four receptions. The Pats won easily 45-24.
2012: Patriots @ Jets. The Patriots traveled to New Jersey for what is undebatably the most infamous and well-known instance of the Patriots playing on Thanksgiving day. After all, it’s not often a football game, or a moment within it is literally impactful enough to spawn an entirely new word. Especially a word as widespread and well-known as “Buttfumble.”
Yes. This was the Buttfumble game. A game where Brady, Belichick, and the Patriots, rolled into Metlife Stadium, intent on raising Hell on Rex Ryan and Mark Sanchez’s lowly New York Jets. The associated press article about the game released afterward contains numerous highlight quotes that really help paint a glorious picture of the lopsided affair that this game turned out to be. Here are some of the best quotes from that post-game article:
Fans were chanting for Tim Tebow to play before the second quarter of this Thanksgiving showdown was over and booing as the team left the MetLife Stadium field at halftime. “Shoot, I don’t blame them for booing,” Ryan said.
“It all happened so fast,” Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo said. “I’ve never been part of anything like that, but I’m glad that we were on the right side of it.”
New England was without star tight end Rob Gronkowski, out a few weeks after breaking his left forearm in the win Sunday against Indianapolis. They didn’t need him — not with the Jets fumbling and bumbling around.
Nick Folk kicked a 32-yard field goal with 2 seconds left in the half — and a single firework popped above the stadium.
The buttfumble game was also Belichick’s 200th coaching victory of his career, and it’s safe to say basically everything about that game, which was the last time the Patriots played on Thanksgiving, has been cemented as NFL legend in only ten short years.
Hopefully, we can look forward to some more Buttfumble-Esque shenanigans this week at the expense of Minnesota Vikings QB and oversized-necklace enthusiast Kirk Cousins. The Patriots and the Vikings are set to face off at 8:20 PM ET in Minnesota.
Now, here are all the ways you can get into the action for this special Thanksgiving night edition of New England Patriots football:
Broadcast
Date: Thursday, November 24th, 2022
Time: 8:20 PM ET
Television
This week’s game will be broadcast on NBC nationally with commentary by Mike Tirico (play-by-play), Tony Dungy (color commentary), Jason Garrett (color commentary), and Melissa Stark (sideline).
It can be seen locally on NBC 10 Boston.
Streaming Options
You can stream the game on FuboTV (Free trial available).
You can stream the game on NFL+ (Free trial available).
Out-of-Market Fans can watch the game via NFL Sunday Ticket. (Every game should be in-market this week as all three games start at a different time.)
International Viewers can access a stream of the game via NFL Game Pass.
Additionally, the Game will be broadcast on Patriots.com: “as Patriots Editor-in-Chief Fred Kirsch offers his live commentary on all the action. Plus, get live stats, score updates, highlights, and more.” – Patriots.com. This option is likely available for local viewers only.
Radio
The game will be broadcast nationally on Westwood One.
Per usual, the game will be broadcast over AM/FM radio through 98.5 The Sports Hub. A list of all 33 local New England radio stations broadcasting the game can be found here.
SiriusXM App: 821 (NE), 820 (MIN) | SiriusXM: 225 (NE), 227 (MIN)
Go Pats!
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