NFL's Turkey Games — The 3 Thursday matchups were real snoozers

The NFL games broadcast on Thanksgiving were bad enough to give a person indigestion.

They were worse than green bean casserole.

Three games were decided by an average of 30 points. Pure boredom. Good thing there was a Rocky marathon on the Versus channel to keep the TV useful. Yes, watching Rocky and Drago hit each other 800 times in the same round was better than watching the Lions, Seahawks and Cardinals take similar beatings.

The only thing Thursday's games accomplished was that they revealed some NFL truths. We now know for sure that the Cardinals aren't a real contender. Yeah, their offense can be fun to watch, and they have some fantasy standouts on their roster. But in front of a national TV audience, they made the previously floundering Eagles look like the best and most complete NFL team of the decade.

We know that's not the truth.

But perhaps I was just bitter with how the NFL's scheduling turned out this year by the time the Cardinals played the Eagles. I had already sat through a game featuring the NFL's junior varsity team in the Detroit Lions getting worked by the 11-1 Titans. I only saw a few plays of the outmanned Seahawks losing to Dallas, but in looking at the 34-9 final score, I don't think I missed much.

Last week, I highlighted some things about the NFL I was thankful for. But after Thursday's tripleheader debacle, as well as some Thanksgiving indigestion (not from my mom's house), I've thought of some ways to improve football on the holiday.

Let's call this trimming some fat from one of the best traditions in sports.

Kick Detroit off of Thanksgiving: I know, it's tradition, there was a time when nobody wanted to play on the holiday, the Lions stepped up, blah, blah, blah. I'm a person who likes tradition in sports. Detroit is simply a fixture on Thanksgiving as it has played on the holiday in 69 of its 75 seasons.

But this tradition has to end — starting next year.

The Lions are just in miserable shape. Their games shouldn't be televised, period. They are 0-12, they've lost 19 of their last 20 games, and they've been outscored 154-66 in the last month. The franchise deserves to lose the national spotlight until it can regain some respectability.

Rotate the host teams among the entire NFL: Along with Detroit, Dallas is a fixture on Thanksgiving. The Cowboys have hosted 41 games on the holiday, and many of those have been memorable.