November 25, 1976: As usual, the Detroit Lions play at home on Thanksgiving Day. However, for the 2nd year in a row, it's being held at the decidedly untraditional venue of an indoor stadium, the Silverdome in suburban Pontiac, 30 miles northwest of downtown Detroit.
The Lions certainly had a high-profile opponent for their game, televised nationally on NBC. Not so much the team, the Buffalo Bills, as their leading offensive threat, running back O.J. Simpson. The top running back in the NFL in the decade, he was already the holder of the single-season record for rushing yards, with 2,003 in 1973.
At this point, the NFL record for rushing yards in a game was 247, by Willie Ellison of the Los Angeles Rams in a 1971 game. In this game, however, the Lions couldn't stop O.J. He set a new record with 273 yards, and scored 2 touchdowns.
But, much like the Boston Celtics treated Wilt Chamberlain in the 1960s, the Lions approached the situation as if O.J. couldn't be stopped, but the rest of his team could. Quarterback Greg Landry led 4 scoring drives before the Bills got on the board, leading to a touchdown pass he threw to David Hill, 2 field goals from Benny Ricardo, and another pass from Landry to Hill. Midway through the 3rd quarter, the Lions led, 20-0. Simpson's 2 touchdowns bookended a touchdown run by the Lions' Dexter Bussey. Detroit won, 27-14.
The game was fairly typical of Simpson's career. In 11 seasons, he played in 1 Playoff game, a defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1974. In this season, with his best single-game performance, not only did the Bills lose that game, but went 2-12.
A year later, Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears broke the record, rushing for 275 yards. That was still the NFL record in 1994, when O.J. Simpson was arrested for killing 2 people, including his ex-wife. He was acquitted, but was later found liable for their deaths in a civil trial, and later spent time in prison, not for those murders, but for a separate armed robbery.
The NFL record for rushing yards in a game was raised to 278 by Corey Dillon of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2000, to 295 by Jamal Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens in 2003, and to 296 by Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings in 2007. That record still stands.
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November 25, 1976, like all Thanksgiving Days, was a Thursday. One other game was played in the NFL: The Dallas Cowboys beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 19-14 at Texas Stadium in suburban Irving, 10 miles northwest of downtown Dallas. The leading rusher in that game only had 54 yards, and it was the Cowboys' quarterback, Roger "the Dodger" Staubach.
There were 3 college games:
* Number 11 Texas A&M beat arch-rival Texas, 27-3 at Memorial Stadium in Austin.
* Number 17 Rutgers beat Colgate, 17-9 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. This completed an 11-0, undefeated season for Rutgers. I have a separate entry for that event.
* And Kent State beat Northern Illinois, 42-0 at Dix Stadium in the Cleveland suburb of Kent, Ohio.
One more note from football on this day: Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was born.
Baseball was out of season. In recent times, the NBA and the NHL have avoided playing on Thanksgiving, so as not to compete for TV ratings with the NFL. But, this time, there were 3 NBA games:
* The Cleveland Cavaliers, beat the Detroit Pistons, 111-105 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.
* The Houston Rockets beat the New Orleans Jazz, 105-99 at the Superdome in New Orleans. In defeat, "Pistol" Pete Maravich scored 35 points.
* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Washington Bullets, 104-98 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
And there were 2 NHL games. The New York Islanders lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1 at the Nassau Coliseum. And the Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-2 at the Boston Garden.
And there were 2 games in the World Hockey Association. The New England Whalers beat the Birmingham Bulls, 5-3 at the Jefferson County Civic Center in Birmingham. And the Quebec Nordiques beat the Indianapolis Racers, 5-0 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
This was also the day of the last concert by The Band, filmed for the documentary The Last Waltz. I have a separate entry for that event.
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