Thanksgiving week brings us a full slate of Week 13 NFL action. The games begin Thursday as the Super Bowl favorite Detroit Lions take on the Chicago Bears, then the Dallas Cowboys, fresh off an exciting win over their NFC East rival Washington Commanders, welcome another divisional foe, the New York Giants, to AT&T Stadium. Finally, the Miami Dolphins meet the Green Bay Packers in prime time.
Games continue Friday as the Las Vegas Raiders battle the Kansas City Chiefs and Sunday’s slate features 11 games with the Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles heading to Baltimore to face Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens at 4:25 p.m. ET. The San Francisco 49ers play the Buffalo Bills on “Sunday Night Football” and “Monday Night Football” features Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos hosting Jameis Winston and the Cleveland Browns.
Our team takes an early look at the odds to find value before lines move later in the week.
Odds current as of publish time, courtesy of ESPN BET
Joe Fortenbaugh’s first bet: Seattle Seahawks (-2) over New York Jets
Last week: Los Angeles Chargers (13-1) to win AFC.
This line should be Seattle -3 at a minimum. The Seahawks currently find themselves atop the NFC West with everything to play for while the Jets would love nothing more than for this disaster of a season to come to an end. Even when New York was “competing,” it wasn’t doing well, as Aaron Rodgers and company have covered the spread just one time over their past eight outings. Get this: In the seven games where New York failed to cover the number during that aforementioned stretch, the Jets missed the closing spread by an average of 11.6 points per game. That’s absolutely dreadful. Look for Geno Smith to stick it to his former team.
Andre Snellings’ first bet: Detroit Lions (-11) over Chicago Bears
Last week: Detroit Lions at Indianapolis Colts over 50.5 points. Line closed at 49.5. Lions won 24-6.
The Bears have played better in the two games since firing offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and replacing him with Thomas Brown. Chicago lost to the Packers and Vikings by a combined four points. With that said, the Bears have still lost five games in a row and are a 4-7 team. The Lions, on the other hand, are a juggernaut. Detroit hasn’t lost since Sept. 15 and has won by an average of 19.3 PPG over its nine-game winning streak. The Lions have no weaknesses on either side of the ball; they are the top scoring offense (32.7 PPG) in the NFL and have the second-stingiest scoring defense (16.6 PPG allowed). The Bears are solid defensively but aren’t strong enough on offense to keep up with the high-powered Lions.
Tyler Fulghum’s first bet: Pittsburgh Steelers-Cincinnati Bengals UNDER 46.5
Last week: Denver Broncos (-5.5) at Las Vegas Raiders. Line closed at Denver -5.5. Broncos won 29-19.
We have Mike Tomlin and the Steelers going on the road for a divisional matchup. Last week in a similar situation the under seemed like an easy win, until four fourth quarter touchdowns in Cleveland carried us over the total. Let’s not be deterred by an unfortunate outcome. We should go right back to the well. If you feel more comfortable leaning into the first-half under, I have no issue with that. Tomlin has the requisite defense to muddy this game up with a Bengals team whose season is on life support.
Pamela Maldonado’s first bet: Nebraska Cornhuskers at Iowa Hawkeyes OVER 39.5
Already without their starting quarterback, the San Francisco 49ers are optimistic that star left tackle Trent Williams will be able to play Sunday at the Green Bay Packers, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
San Francisco, however, needs to see how Williams’ injured ankle feels in pregame warmups to make sure he will be able to go, the source told Schefter.
If Williams is deemed fit to play, it would be welcome news for veteran quarterback Brandon Allen, who will make his first start in more than two years in place of the injured Brock Purdy (shoulder).
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Williams, who is listed as questionable, did not practice this week after playing through his injury in last Sunday’s home loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
The 49ers believe Purdy should be able to return next Sunday against the Buffalo Bills despite his shoulder soreness, sources told Schefter. The Niners, however, also thought Purdy would be able to start Sunday against the Packers despite his injury, and he couldn’t.
For the time being, there does not seem to be a high level of concern for Purdy’s injury, sources told Schefter.
The Niners (5-5), who are fighting to stay in the postseason hunt, also have ruled out star pass rusher Nick Bosa, who is dealing with injuries to both hips and obliques.
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Rich Cimini, ESPN Staff Writer
FIFTY YEARS AGO, Joe Namath was in the backseat of a limousine, riding down Park Avenue on his way to film a TV commercial at a Manhattan studio. He was one of the most recognizable athletes in America — a Super Bowl MVP, a movie star and a prolific pitchman. He had appeared in dozens of commercials, endorsing everything from shaving cream to popcorn makers to typewriters.
On that day in 1974, he was accompanied by his attorney, Jimmy Walsh, a close friend from their college days at Alabama. He was — and still is — Namath’s consigliere, fiercely protective of the “Broadway Joe” brand. Suddenly, in the backseat of the limo, Walsh was hit with a wave of trepidation.
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“Now, I don’t wear pantyhose … ” he starts off saying. Fifty years later, he finished the sentence. “But if Beautymist can make my legs look good,” he said by phone, “imagine what they’ll do for yours.” Namath laughed. “Look, I still remember the line,” he said proudly. The spot ends with Namath’s face in an inset, with the voiceover saying, “Somehow, everything looks better through Beautymist.” Looking at the camera, Namath adds, “Especially your legs.” With that, he receives a kiss on the cheek from a woman. Initially, Namath wasn’t happy with it. “I probably would’ve done it another way if they gave me another chance or 10 or whatever,” Namath said. “We did some different takes, but they chose it. They chose that one. They knew what they were doing better than I did.” Namath said he agreed to do the commercial because Hanes is a reputable company, and the concept — meaning the dialogue and staging — was “funny.” It also was “a good pay day.” He couldn’t remember how much he was paid for the gig — neither could Walsh — but it was believed to be $100,000 for the one-day shoot. Remember, this was 1974. His appreciation for the commercial has grown over time. It brings back fond memories, like the time he called his mother in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, to give her a heads up on the product he was about to endorse. She gasped, according to Namath, adding that his mom’s apprehension subsided once she saw it on TV. She, too, thought it was funny. There was a time in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where a customer at the restaurant Namath owned delivered a pointed question to the Crimson Tide legend. Telling the story, Namath impersonated the diner — a crusty old-timer — with a thick Alabama drawl. “The guy said, ‘Lookit here, son, I really don’t mind you wearing them there stockings, them there pantyhose, but, boy, did you shave your legs?'” “Yes, sir, I did,” Namath told him, explaining it was a common practice for athletes. HE DOESN’T RECALL any feedback from his college coach, the great Bear Bryant, but he always appreciated how Bryant supported his show-biz career. Namath remembered him showing up unannounced to watch him perform in the stage production of “Damn Yankees” at the Jones Beach theater on Long Island in 1981. “I can still see him now, sitting right up front,” he said wistfully. “That was great.” Namath, who toggled easily between the worlds of football star and pop-culture icon, never took himself too seriously. The commercial became part of his legacy, right there with his Super Bowl III guarantee, his gilded right arm, his banged-up knees, his fur coats, his long hair, his love for nightlife and his larger-than-life personality. “There was a lot of kidding, of course, players kidding Joe,” former Jets public relations director Frank Ramos said of the Beautymist commercial. “But he couldn’t care less because the money was rolling in. “Whenever you see something on Namath, like a documentary, they always show that commercial. Of all the commercials he did, that one always comes up.” Namath couldn’t recall any razzing from teammates. His former center, John Schmitt, said, “Joe was a groundbreaker, with the fur coats, the white shoes and the pantyhose. It took guts to do that. Joe was always willing to take a shot.” Pantyhose actually became part of the team’s game-day attire late in the 1977 season. To combat the bone-chilling temperatures in Shea Stadium, the home of the Jets from 1964 to 1983 and New York Mets from 1964 to 2009, longtime equipment manager Bill Hampton hatched the idea for the Jets to wear the stockings under their uniforms. His daughter, Beth Wallace, said she can recall her mother buying extra-large pantyhose at the local Sears & Roebuck to supply the team. That year, Namath finished out his Hall of Fame career with an inglorious season on the In 1973, he did a Noxzema shaving-cream ad with actress and model Farrah Fawcett that debuted during the Super Bowl. That created a buzz. So did the follow-up, a spicy spot for her shampoo brand. In that commercial, they’re both in towels. Her boyfriend, actor Ryan O’Neal, was on the set, Namath recalled. “I’m very close to her and, just before we’re starting to shoot, Ryan is standing beside the camera, and he says, ‘Hey, Namath, I’m right here, you know,'” he said with a laugh. By then, his trusted adviser — Walsh — had shared an important piece of information: O’Neal was an accomplished boxer. RODGERS WAS BORN nine years after the Beautymist commercial first aired, but he’s familiar with it and the legend of Namath. At his first Jets news conference, he paid homage to Namath, respectfully declining his offer to wear his No. 12, which is retired by the team. He believes Namath changed the landscape of off-the-field opportunities. “He was such a transcendent player,” Rodgers told ESPN. “I’m not saying he was the first, but he was one of the first famous quarterbacks. People knew about Johnny Unitas and Bart Starr, but he was the first one who was truly an icon. Part of that was Broadway Joe. He played in New York. … He’s a really good-looking guy, and just his attitude. “He was one of the first to be used in a lot of ad campaigns, so I thank Joe because he paved the way for me doing very similar things — obviously, my State Farm commercials.” Athletes have been endorsing products since the 19th century, starting with soccer players in the United Kingdom. In the 1890s, tobacco companies began producing collectible cards with pictures of soccer players. Closer to home, the first athlete to appear on a Wheaties box was New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig in 1934. So Namath wasn’t the first, but he definitely capitalized on his celebrity. In 1965, he signed the biggest contract in pro football history at the time — a stunning $427,000 for three years as a rookie. He boosted the popularity of the AFL, eventually leading to its merger with the NFL, and his profile skyrocketed with the Super Bowl win over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in 1969. The endorsement offers came pouring in, and he cashed in. In 1975, he signed with Faberge cologne for a reported 10 years at $500,000 per year. “Joe Namath did kind of move us into a new, modern era of that endorsement industrial complex that really started to pick up in the 1970s,” said Robert Thompson, a trustee professor for TV, radio and film at Syracuse University. “There were other athletes, but Joe Namath seems to have taken it to a new level of concentration and organization and intensity.” Football made Namath a star, but his many product endorsements vaulted his popularity, Thompson said. There were only three TV networks in those days, so a commercial in prime time was seen by a large segment of the country. There were a lot of eyeballs on Namath, whose charisma crossed demographic lines, according to the professor. “It universalized his fame in a way that I don’t think we’ve seen even in all those many, many decades of sports people doing advertising,” Thompson said. “He really turned it into a new kind of career path.” Namath was known for taking chances on the field. He certainly wasn’t afraid to operate the same way off it. His pantyhose commercial caught the attention of a young Schwarzenegger, who would go on to become a mega-star in Hollywood and, years later, the governor of California. Appearing in April on the “New Heights” podcast, co-hosted by Jason and
“Joe Namath was on television … and I’m watching TV and I’m seeing him advertising and endorsing pantyhose,” said Schwarzenegger, who was working as a bricklayer to make money. “I said, ‘Are you f—ing kidding me?’ This f—ing guy is the No. 1 football player that everyone watches in America, because everyone watches football and baseball, and I’m in a sport that no one watches.” THE IDEA WAS hatched by a woman named Peggy King, a copywriter at the Long Haymes Carr advertising agency in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In her obituary — she died last Dec. 14 at the age of 91 — it mentions her role in the commercial. “It was one of her career highlights,” one of her sons, Bryan King, said by phone. “It was very distinctive, and she did talk about it quite a bit.” Get exclusive access to thousands of premium articles a year from top writers.Follow the NFL all season long
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Don Van Natta Jr., ESPN Senior Writer
Robert Kraft, the six-time Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots owner considered a favorite for the 2025 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, has been passed over again by the Hall’s contributor committee, sources told ESPN.
Instead, the nine-member committee, which each year advances one name for consideration by all 50 Hall voters, chose Ralph Hay, a co-founder of the National Football League and the owner of the Canton Bulldogs from 1918 to 1922, five sources with knowledge of the decision told ESPN this week.
The contributor committee’s decision was made Nov. 12 and is expected to be announced by the Hall of Fame next month. Hay, along with one coaching candidate and three candidates from an earlier NFL era whose names still have not been revealed, will be considered by the full selection committee for the Hall in January 2025.
In response to questions from ESPN, the Hall of Fame released a statement Thursday, saying the names of all the finalists will be “announced jointly in early December, once all committees have held their selection meetings.”
The Patriots’ longtime spokesperson, Stacey James, declined to comment when reached by ESPN.
This year marks the 13th year that Kraft, now 83, was considered by a Hall committee but failed to advance out of committee. Eighty percent of the voters must approve the nominated finalists for induction into the Hall in Canton, Ohio.
Several voters told ESPN they were surprised that the committee did not make Kraft a finalist this year. After the Hall split the coaches and contributors into separate categories, some voters said they believed Kraft had an easier path to induction.
“It’s a huge surprise,” said one source, who insisted on anonymity. “And it’s very disappointing. Unless you are an NFL historian, you don’t know who Ralph Hay is.”
Hay is considered the founding father of the NFL. In 1920, he organized the first meeting of teams that became the American Professional Football Association, the precursor to the NFL. Historians say without Hay, there might not have been an NFL.
Kraft has had 13 opportunities for Canton, while Hay was passed over since the Hall was founded in 1963. In fact, he has never been a finalist until this year. In 2020, after the Hall convened a specially selected group of voters to choose a centennial class marking the NFL’s 100th anniversary, voters picked three contributors for induction.
Hay was not among them.
One source who was angry about Hay’s selection over Kraft said, “Hay didn’t believe players should be paid. He sold the team after only four years. I don’t know how he is seen as more deserving than Bob Kraft.”
Although Hay does not have a bronze bust in Canton, a Hall of Fame honor is named after him. Established in 1972, the Ralph Hay Pioneer award is given to people who have made “significant and innovative contributions to professional football.” Fernando Von Rossum, a Spanish-language NFL announcer, received the award in August.
In 1972, Hall of Fame coach George Halas hailed Hay, saying “he was a pioneer in Canton … and dreamed of bigger, better things in the form of a major league … I emphatically recommend that Ralph Hay be voted into our Pro Football Hall of Fame and be honored just as have others who have followed him as players or owners.”
In September, ESPN reported on the long campaign Kraft’s supporters have waged on his behalf to get a bronze bust in Canton. Supporters of Kraft say he is long overdue to be inducted. The lifelong Patriots fan bought the team in 1994 and quickly turned it into one of the most successful franchises in NFL history. He hired Bill Belichick as coach in 2000 and oversaw the Patriots’ six Super Bowl-winning seasons from 2001 to 2018.
“There’s no box that Robert Kraft doesn’t check to get into the Hall of Fame,” Hall of Famer Bill Polian, an ardent Kraft supporter, told ESPN earlier this year.
Beginning in 2012, an aggressive campaign for Kraft was helmed by James, who pushed his boss’s candidacy in numerous ways, including sending the bestselling 2018 pro-Kraft book, “The Dynasty,” authored by Jeff Benedict, to Hall of Fame voters. One voter said he received the book two years in a row.
Several sources said that James did not lobby for Kraft this year.
In the past decade, three owners have been inducted. Eddie J. DeBartolo, the former San Francisco 49ers owner was inducted in 2016 despite losing his team in 2000 because of his connection to an extortion case. Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager, was inducted in August 2017. And Pat Bowlen, the late Denver Broncos owner, was inducted the following year.
In mid-October, the Hall of Fame announced the 25 contributors up for Hall of Fame consideration. Besides Kraft and Hay, the other contributors who were considered include Art Modell, the former Cleveland Browns owner; Bud Adams, who founded the Houston Oilers and later moved the franchise to Tennessee; and Chicago Bears owner Virginia McCaskey.
From television, three people behind the success of “Monday Night Football” were among the 25 nominees considered, including legendary broadcaster Howard Cosell and Roone Arledge, the ABC executive who produced the games that lifted the NFL’s popularity in the 1970s.