It has become a part of the Thanksgiving tradition for many households to watch NFL football on Thanksgiving Day. The NFL features a three-game slate annually, with the Lions and Cowboys hosting a game each year, and a third primetime matchup taking place every year.
The NFL has made a tweak to the schedule on Thanksgiving in 2025, and commissioner Roger Goodell explained why the NFL made this change while on “The Pat McAfee Show” on ESPN.
Early Thanksgiving Game Set to Start at 1:00 p.m. ET
“One little, small change,” Goodell said back in April. “We’re probably going to move from a 12:30 ET kickoff back to 1 p.m . We’ll go back to the traditional windows, start at 1, roll right into Dallas, and then in prime time.”
Goodell and the NFL decided to move back the start time of the early game to make the day feel like the traditional NFL Sunday slate that fans are used to.
12:30 has been the start time in the past, but that is 30 minutes earlier than what a typical Sunday slate would start at. The updated slate will keep both later games set at their regular start times, giving NFL fans a full dose of NFL football to watch with their families on the holiday.
The Detroit Lions play host to the Green Bay Packers in an NFC North Divisional clash on Fox during the early window. Green Bay holds the head-to-head advantage, after handily defeating the Lions in Week 1 by a score of 27-13.
Detroit sits at 7-4, trailing Green Bay by a half game for second in the NFC North. Two of the NFL’s top defensive units go head-to-head in a game that figures to have massive implications for the NFC playoff picture.
PFSN ranks Detroit and Green Bay as the seventh and eighth-best defensive units, respectively, in the NFL in their 2025 NFL Defense Impact Rankings. Both defenses will look to stop offenses with big-play potential in the crucial divisional matchup.
READ MORE: Week 13 NFL Power Rankings: Eagles Fall After Loss to Cowboys, Steelers Tumble
The Packers currently hold the sixth seed in the NFC playoff picture, while the Lions find themselves on the outside looking in as the eighth seed. Each team still has at least one game remaining against the first-place Chicago Bears, and both are very much alive for the division title or a Wild Card berth.
The impact of the shift in start time on viewership of the early game remains to be seen. How successful the change is will likely determine whether it is permanent or just a one-year trial run for the NFL, before reverting to their original 12:30 ET start time for the holiday in future years.