Washington Commanders Involved in NFL’s ‘John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration’

The Washington Commanders will travel to face the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving as part of the NFL’s second annual celebration of John Madden.

The Washington Commanders (4-6) have a chance to get back into playoff contention with a win over the New York Giants (2-8) in Week 11. 

And while the Commanders certainly won’t be looking past this week’s contest, many - including the NFL - are already looking forward to Week 12 when the team will travel southwest to face the Dallas Cowboys (6-3) on Thanksgiving Day.

“The National Football League continues to honor and commemorate the late John Madden with the second annual ‘John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration’,” the NFL announced on Tuesday.

As the league quoted, Madden once said, “There’s no place that I would rather be today on Thanksgiving than right here, right now, at a football game.”

Washington Commanders and Dallas Cowboys at the line of scrimmage during the second half at FedExField / Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

As division rivals of the Cowboys who host a game on the holiday every year Washington has participated in several of these contests over the year, but this will be the first to feature tributes to the late legend who not only became a Thanksgiving fixture but continues to impact the way generations come to view the sport as a whole.

Joining in on the efforts to honor Madden’s memory networks FOX, CBS, and NBC will have on and off field tributes planned along with an NFL-produced “Madden Hallmark” ahead of each game happening on Thanksgiving.

Additionally, each contest that day will have a player of the game elected and he will receive $10,000 from the NFL Foundation which will be donated to a high school or youth football program in their name.

The Commanders will face Dallas as the second game of the day scheduled to kickoff at 4:30 p.m. ET on CBS while the Green Bay Packers will face the Detroit Lions at 12:30 p.m. ET on FOX and the San Francisco 49ers visit the Seattle Seahawks at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC to cap off the day of competition and celebration.