Drew Brees tossed four touchdown passes in New Orleans’ Thanksgiving matchup on Thursday night to propel the Saints to their tenth consecutive victory, a 31-17 home win over the Atlanta Falcons.

Brees Lifts Saints To 10th Straight Win

The Saints’ (10-1) veteran wide receiver corps may have been depleted on Thursday, but Brees managed to adjust and connected with four young, undrafted wideouts to get the win: rookie Keith Kirkwood, second-year WR Austin Carr, third-year receiver Tommylee Lewis and first-year TE Dan Arnold. 

New Orleans’ only loss this season thus far has been its season opener, a 48-40 home defeat to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-7). However, the Saints now sit more than comfortably atop the NFC South, with the second-place Carolina Panthers sitting at 6-4. Atlanta (4-7) is third in the division.

The Saints have also signed several veteran players in free agency or via trades in recent weeks, including wide receivers Dez Bryant — who along with Cameron Meredith and Ted Ginn Jr. is on injured reserve — Brandon Marshall, who has yet to play in a game for New Orleans, and cornerback Eli Apple, both of whom are former New York Giants.

According to ESPN, Brees tied a league record — set by Atlanta QB Matt Ryan in 2016 — by tossing TD passes to a whopping 13 distinct teammates thus far this campaign.

30 SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2018 – TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW

“You know, it says a lot about them. It says a lot about taking advantage of the opportunity and stepping up when we need it,” Brees said. “You know, we’re down some receivers from the beginning of the year until now. And these guys are having to step into some roles and do some things that maybe were unexpected. And yet it’s fun to watch them grow and gain confidence and build a chemistry.”

He continued: “For all of them to play the way they did, each get a touchdown on Thanksgiving day, all their family and friends watching at home, is pretty cool.”

Saints running back Mark Ingram called Brees “the GOAT.”

New Orleans also currently has the NFL’s highest-scoring offense, with 37.2 points per game. The Saints next play the Cowboys (6-5) in Dallas on Thursday. Atlanta next hosts Baltimore (5-5) on Dec. 2.

The New York Giants are reeling. They unleashed offensive hell on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, though New York just escaped with a 38-35 victory after Jameis Winston helped to lead a comeback attempt. It’s the second game they’ve won in a row, the first win streak for the G-men in 700 days.

Giants (3-7) Beat Bucs For Second Straight Win

For Giants fans, its been 700 days of miserable, grueling football. That’s helped to erase the memories of a now distant 2016 season, one where the team finished 11-5 and strung four wins together to close out the season, the last time fans were able to enjoy a win streak in New York. This time, each win means more than the former, and a loss means certain doom for a team that has found its footing at an inopportune time.

Given that we’re more than halfway through the season and that the team still sits in last place of the NFC East at 3-7, realistic playoff hopes were all but obliterated quite a while ago. But the Giants, historically the crusaders of late-season runs when the circumstances are bleak, are wise to the notion of reaping an opportunity when it shows. Sometimes.

As is customary with the NFC East, though, order has been upended, and calamity has ensued. The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles are 4-6, while Washington is leading the division with no quarterback, and is only one game ahead of Dallas. It’s the Wild West, and that means Big Blue is still hanging around by a shoelace.

It also means the team will likely have to confirm Odell Beckham Jr.’s prophecy of running the table to reach 9-7 to catch up with whoever ends up in first place come January. Interestingly enough, three of the Giant’s six remaining games are against their NFC East peers, the first being against the Eagles next Sunday. Several of these games will be on the road, a particularly difficult feat for the struggling team, especially considering some of their other opponents. The team is set to host the Bears, Titans, and Cowboys, but will visit Washington and Indianapolis.

30 SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2018 – TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW

“That’s just the goal. Same thing I said before the season, the goal is to win a Super Bowl,” Beckham said on his prediction. “It’s always going to win a Super Bowl. If you’re just here to have fun or whatever else, I don’t think you should be here. The goal is to win every game. I’m trying to win. If we play 16, I’m trying to win 16. Win the four in the playoffs, and win the Super Bowl. You never want to lose. My mentality is going to be win these last seven games, no matter who believes it or what’s said, or anything like that. That’s going to be my goal.”

The continuity of spectacular offense from the likes of running back Saquon Barkley, and recently, quarterback Eli Manning, have spurred a resurgence of productivity, and the team recognizes the necessity to maintain that if it wishes to play in January.

“[Barkley] has gotten better every week. That’s what you ask everyone to do and I thought [Sunday] was the best he ran,”  Manning said. “He had a better tempo. He was hitting the holes fast and was running hard. He was close to breaking a couple of long ones but was just efficient.”

As is a holiday tradition in New York, its time to sit back and anxiously watch each erratic game the Giants play, and hope they find a way to mount themselves out of obscurity ahead of another long winter.

The Seattle Seahawks (4-5) and Green Bay Packers (4-4-1), two former powerhouses of the 2010s, are skating on thin ice ahead of a do-or-die matchup on Thursday Night Football at 8:20 p.m. EST.

Seahawks Host Packers For TNF

Much like their domination over the league in the early portion of the decade, the playoff hopes of these two teams are fading to black in the shadows of stellar NFC peers. The two teams have seen abrupt role reversals with the little brothers of their respective divisions, as the Bears (6-3) and Vikings (5-3) have hoisted themselves atop the peak of the NFC North, and the arrival of the Rams (9-1) in Los Angeles has seen a resurgence in the form of the “Greatest Show on Turf”.

Hobbled quarterback Aaron Rodgers will need to find a way to negate the similarly wounded roster of the Pack, as he often does, although this time it won’t be in the comfort of Green Bay. Seattle’s famously dubbed “12th man” home-field advantage has remained a force, one that Rodgers and the Pack know all too well. The history of these two teams runs as deep as their reigns over the early 2010s, and this season, one of those teams will see a dwindling conclusion to those days of triumph.

Although they’ve won three straight victories over three straight years against the Seahawks, the Packers have yet to redeem themselves from that infamous 2015 NFC Championship game where they saw an ensured fourth-quarter lead slip through their fingers and a trip to the Super Bowl followed. The last three times the Packers have faced the Hawks in Seattle have all ended in losses, including none other than the “Fail Mary” game back in 2012.

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“Yeah, there is an advantage,” said Seahawks coach Pete Carroll on the significance of playing at home. “The short week is hard enough as it is but these guys are going to probably travel on Tuesday night. I think they’re on the road so soon. That’s their day off, generally. It’s a big challenge. The good side of it is that you get the bigger break on the weekend and we all benefit from that, but it does help us to be at home and we’re ready to get in there and get mixing up with the 12’s. It’ll be a fun Thursday night.”

Packers coach Mike McCarthy admitted that the short week and laborious travel will inevitably affect the way the team plans. “Well, the travel part of it impacts it as much as anything just because everybody has a schedule that they’d like to stick to,” McCarthy said on Tuesday. “We’ve been fortunate in the last couple of years.”

The two teams, both bolstered by future Hall of Fame quarterbacks and experienced coaching, are rather evenly matched considering the pedestrian talent surrounding them. The one distinction here, as often is the advantage in Seattle, are those who will be in the seats, rather than on the field.

Thursday’s game in Seattle will air on FOX, NFL Network and can also be live-streamed on Amazon Prime.

The Pittsburgh Steelers will be missing an offensive lineman for their next four games.

Marcus Gilbert Four-Game Suspension News

The team revealed on Monday that 29-year-old right tackle Marcus Gilbert has been suspended without pay for breaking the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs.

“We are disappointed that Marcus Gilbert has been suspended four games for using performance-enhancing substances. He will not appeal the NFL’s decision,” Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said in statement.

“The suspension is effective immediately, and he will not be permitted in the building until after the suspension has concluded following our game on Dec. 17.”

Gilbert issued this apology on Twitter shortly afterwards:

Gilbert will thus miss Sunday’s matchup against the Packers, as well as games against the Bengals, Ravens and Patriots. When he returns, Pittsburgh will have only two regular-season games remaining: a tilt against the Texans and then a home contest against the Browns for the season finale.

According to Pro Football Focus, the 6-foot-6, 330-pound Gilbert is the league’s 11th-ranked tackle. He has been with the Steelers since 2011, when he was drafted as a second-round pick out of Florida.

With a reported base salary of $4 million, the ban will cost Gilbert $1 million.

Pittsburgh will now likely turn to offensive tackles Chris Hubbard and Jerald Hawkins, although neither is as prolific as Gilbert.

On Tuesday, the Steelers offense suffered another blow: rookie receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster is dealing with a hamstring injury. For the season, Smith-Schuster has 33 receptions for 568 yards and five touchdowns.

OAKLAND, CA – SEPTEMBER 23: Ben Roethlisberger #7 of the Pittsburgh Steelers celebrates with Marcus Gilbert #77 and Max Starks #78 after the Steelers scored their first touchdown against the Oakland Raiders at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on September 23, 2012 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Colin Kaepernick is gaining even more fans.

National Anthem Protest Outside Cowboys Stadium

Around 300 protesters gathered outside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas before Sunday night’s matchup between the Cowboys and Eagles, to kneel during the playing of the national anthem.

The protest was reportedly organized by the Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas. Nearly all participants wore black.

“We’re here to stand with him as we also refocus the narrative,” said the church’s pastor, Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes III. “It never was about the flag. It never was about the anthem. It was always about Christian Taylor, Clinton Allen, Tamir Rice … all of those names of individuals whose lives have been lost at the hands of police who overreached and were violent.”

Inside the stadium, Cowboys defensive end David Irving raised his fist — as he had once before — at the end of The Star-Spangled Banner. Several Eagles players also protested in similar ways. Philadelphia won the game 37-9 to improve to 9-1. Dallas is 5-5.

The protest outside AT&T Stadium came just a few days after Cowboys owner Jerry Jones apologized for a racially insensitive comment he made several years ago. The comment was captured on video and posted late last week. In 2013, Jones reportedly taped a voice message for a white man at a Dallas hotel who requested the voicemail for his fiancee.  “Hey, Jennifer, congratulations on the wedding,” said Jones. “Now, you know he’s with a black girl tonight, don’t you?”

Jones later apologized for the remark on Friday shortly after the video surfaced.

At the protest, Haynes also called on Jones to join the fight for criminal justice reform.

“If you’re truly a patriot, Mr. Jones, use your privilege to benefit your players and their community,” Haynes told The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Because once they take off their helmet and get in their cars, they’re subject to the same things.”

The Cowboys next host the Los Angeles Chargers on Thanksgiving, while the Eagles will host the Chicago Bears on Sunday.

 ARLINGTON, TX – NOVEMBER 19: Alshon Jeffery #17 of the Philadelphia Eagles pulls in a touchdown reception against Jourdan Lewis #27 of the Dallas Cowboys in the second half of a football game at AT&T Stadium on November 19, 2017 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)