While everyone looks forward to Thanksgiving for various reasons, like good food, seeing family, and having a few days off, football fans look forward to turkey day for the slate of NFL action every year.

Football has become a staple of Thanksgiving. Field goals, touchdowns, and throwback jerseys. America's game has become synonymous with the family holiday so much so, that not only does the NFL own Thanksgiving Thursday, but College Football owns the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend by featuring huge rivalry games such as Alabama vs Auburn, Ohio State vs Michigan, and Florida vs Florida State -- many of which will decide who wins their respective conferences and who goes on to the College Football Playoffs.

Now, back to the NFL. Two teams share the national spotlight every year on Thanksgiving. First, around 12:30 p.m. eastern time, the Detroit Lions welcome Americans to Ford Field for what is usually a rough day for the home team as the Lions are notoriously a bad team nearly every year. Then, around 4:30 p.m. eastern, the Dallas Cowboys, America's Team, usually play a heart-wrenching, down-to-the-wire, drama-filled contest. Also, since 2006, the NFL has added a third game, usually around 8:30 p.m. eastern, to fill the holiday with almost 12 hours of football. The night game doesn't have a fixed team and the opponents change every year.

But why do the Lions and Cowboys play on Thanksgiving every year?

Starting with the Lions, they used to be called the Spartans playing in Portsmouth, Ohio. Then, in 1934, Detroit radio station owner George A. Richards bought the team and moved them to the Motor City. Although the Lions had a decent team, they were playing second fiddle in the town to baseball's Detroit Tigers, who won 101 games along with the American League pennant in 1934. Throughout the 1934 season, the Lions were barely drawing a crowd of 15,000. Desperate to get Detroit natives to start paying attention to the Lions, Richards thought of the marketing trick of getting the Lions a game on Thanksgiving. Since Richards' Detroit radio station had some pull, he convinced NBC to broadcast the Lions' Thanksgiving Day game against the defending champion Chicago Bears in 94 cities nationwide. The move worked brilliantly. The Lions sold out their 26,000 seat stadium and even had to turn fans away at the gate. The Lions have played on Thanksgiving every year since.

The Cowboys' story is somewhat similar. Coming into the NFL in 1960 as an expansion team, they were relatively unknown. They struggled mightily under head coach Tom Landry throughout the '60s. In 1966, general manager Tex Schramm saw the Thanksgiving Day game as a great chance to get the new franchise some national publicity. It turned out to be a great idea as the Cowboys beat the Cleveland Browns 26-14 and set a new attendance record of 80,259 fans packing the old Cotton Bowl that day. And the rest, is history.

This year, the Thanksgiving Day games will mean a lot more than they usually do. All three games will have playoff implications. For starters, the Lions and Cowboys currently sit in first place in their respective divisions. Both teams will be playing division rivals trying to close the distance as the Lions face the Minnesota Vikings and the Cowboys host the Washington Redskins. Then, at night, the Pittsburgh Steelers travel to Indianapolis to play the Colts in a huge contest that sees both teams on the outside looking in, trying to climb back into the playoff picture.

In what should be a memorable Thursday this week, let's take a look back at some of the most unforgettable moments from the NFL's Thanksgiving Day past.

1974:Cowboys backup quarterback Clint Longley took over for the injured Roger Staubach with the team down 16-3 and rallied them to a victory over the hated Washington Redskins.

1980:The first Thanksgiving overtime game between the Lions and the Bears. Tied 17-17, Bears running back Dave Williams returned the opening kickoff of overtime 95 yards for a touchdown as the Bears beat the Lions 23-17.

1986:The Lions and Packers had the highest scoring game in Thanksgiving history. Green Bay won 44-40.

1989:Known as the "Bounty Bowl," the Eagles routed the Cowboys 27-0. The "Bounty Bowl" nickname was in reference to allegations that the Eagles placed a bounty on the Cowboys kicker. This game was the first of three straight bitterly contested match-ups between the two rivals.

1993: In one of the most famous (or infamous) games in Thanksgiving history, the Cowboys led the Dolphins 14-13 in an extremely rare snow game at Texas Stadium. The Dolphins attempted a game-winning 40-yard field goal that was blocked by the Cowboys. As NBC's Dick Enberg said "The Cowboys will win," Cowboys defensive lineman Leon Lett touched the ball making it a live ball. Miami recovered the ball and was able to attempt another field goal. The Dolphins kicked the 19-yard field goal and won the unforgettable game 16-14.

1994:With Troy Aikman injured, Jason Garrett started at quarterback for the Cowboys and led them to a 42-31 win over Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers.

1998:In an another controversial game, the Steelers and Lions went into overtime tied at 16. Steelers running back Jerome Bettis called the coin toss in the air but the referee awarded the ball to the Lions as Bettis called both heads and tails. The Lions kicked a field goal to win 19-16. This game led to the rule change that the player must call heads or tails before the coin is tossed.

2008:In the midst of an 0-16 season, the 0-11 Lions were routed by the Titans 47-10 in one of the largest blowouts in Thanksgiving history.

2011:The battle of the Harbaughs as John's Ravens faced Jim's 49ers. It would prove to be a preview of Super Bowl XLVII.

2012:One of the NFL's most infamous rule changes came when Lions coach Jim Schwartz challenged a play in which Texans running back Justin Forsett's knee clearly touched the ground before sprinting for an 81-yard touchdown. Referee Walt Coleman stated that, by rule, scoring plays are automatically reviewed and the play was not challengeable by a coach. Because of the improper attempted challenge, the review was cancelled and Coleman assessed a 15-yard kickoff penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. The NFL then passed a new rule that stated that if a coach attempted to challenge a play that is automatically reviewed, the review would continue. It was called the "Jim Schwartz rule."