This year will be an unusual Thanksgiving in the Harbaugh household.
For one thing, Jim's 49ers are playing the Seahawks on Thursday night, so the family will have to find another time to sit down for a meal. And when Jim, his wife, Sarah, and their three young children do enjoy their Thanksgiving feast, one key dish will be missing.
Harbaugh revealed this week that, after seeing a somewhat distressing clip during Sunday Night Football, he and his wife are considering alternates to turkey. The clip in question was used during a stoppage in the game, and it was meant as a lighthearted way to incorporate turkeys into the broadcast.
But, as evidenced by the Harbaugh family, the clip backfired.
At the end of the clip you can even hear broadcaster Cris Collinsworth let out a disapproving groan after Al Michaels' morbid joke.
"We were watching the Sunday Night Football game," Harbaugh told reporters this week. "We were planning on having turkey, but then they showed this piece where they were showing all the turkeys and everything and my son Jack and Katie and Addie, 'Look at the turkeys. Look at all the turkeys there.' And they were getting excited looking at the turkeys."
The children Harbaugh mentions are all under 7 years old, so you know this story won't end well.
"And then the next shot was they had loaded the turkeys onto a truck and they were driving them away and the kids were like, 'Where are they going?'," Harbaugh said. "And we kind of thought maybe we won't have turkey this year for Thanksgiving. So, we're in discussion on that. We'll have some tofu or something."
This may mean Harbaugh will have to come up with a new catchphrase if anyone asks him about the confidence of his quarterback, as a reporter did following one of Alex Smith's strong performances in 2012.
Wild And Crazy NFL Thanksgiving Moments
Rump Roast
It's usually a pretty good thing when you unexpectedly run into someone you know during the holidays. Usually. That certainly wasn't the case on Thanksgiving night 2012 at MetLife Stadium, when Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez got more than he was expecting. That would be teammate and right guard Brandon Moore, whom Sanchez decided to visit on the spur of the moment.
Rump Roast
Quarterback down, ball out and a recovery for a touchdown by the New England Patriots, who won the game, 49-19 ... no ifs or ands but certainly a butt.
Poultry
Except in this case, these were birds of prey. The Eagles, in the fourth year of the Buddy Ryan Era in the City of Brotherly Love (Buddy Love?), were coming off an NFC East title in 1988 and on their way to another postseason appearance in '89. Meanwhile, it was Jimmy Johnson's first season in Dallas and his team was on its way to a 1-15 finish.
Poultry
But this afternoon at Texas Stadium, which concluded with a 27-0 Philadelphia win, was known for Ryan's rumored "bounty" on both rookie quarterback Troy Aikman and one-time Eagles kicker Luis Zendejas. Bounties? Go figure ...
Ground Beef
Understand that we are not making light of the fact that Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh did the inexplicable on Thanksgiving Day in 2011. But why the standout performer opted to accidentally show Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith the sole of his shoe is indeed baffling.
Ground Beef
On Turkey Day 2012, Suh was accused of similar behavior when he wished Texans quarterback Matt Schaub a happy holiday. And I'm sorry I can't predict what will happen at Ford Field this year, OK? Suh me.
Seafood
The Dallas Cowboys were defending Super Bowl champions in 1993 and Jimmy Johnson's 7-3 team was hosting an 8-2 Miami Dolphins’ club playing without quarterback Dan Marino, who was lost for the season back in October. Still, Don Shula's club looked like it would pull out a two-point win when kicker Pete Stoyanovich lined up for a game-winning field goal. The kick was blocked, but Cowboys defensive tackle Leon Lett wouldn't let it be.
Seafood
He went to recover the ball, touched it but failed to recover, Miami got another a chance and Stoyanovich kicked the game-winner in a 16-14 victory. What were the ramifications? The Dolphins failed to win another game that season and the Cowboys didn’t lose, all the way to capturing Super Bowl XXVIII.
Juice
O.J. Simpson is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of American sports. Of course, there was a time where that sentiment was related to the football field. It was 40 years ago (1973) that the Pro Football Hall of Famer gained 2,003 yards for the Buffalo Bills, an unprecedented feat at the time. Three seasons later at the Pontiac Silverdome, Simpson ran for a record 273 yards against the Detroit Lions -- an NFL record at the time.
Juice
It remains the sixth highest rushing total in an NFL game. Of course, the performance is also notable for another reason. It's the most rushing yards gained by a player in a game in a loss.
Turkeys
The Lions began hosting games on Thanksgiving in 1934 and have done it every year since 1945. And no doubt it is the one day that teams love coming to the Motor City to play, especially as of late. It's the Lions than have been gobbled up at home for nearly a decade, losing nine consecutive games on Turkey Day starting in 2004 ... by a combined score of 319-144.
Turkeys
It's also worth noting that five of those nine setbacks came by at least 20 points. Detroit finally prevailed in 2013, beating the Packers 40-10.
Turnover
Was it heads or tails? It seems like that even 16 years later, we never seem to get the real version of what happened that afternoon at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1998. What call did Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis make on the coin flip in overtime and did Phil Luckett get it right or wrong?
Turnover
Pittsburgh lost that day but seven years later the workhorse runner returned to his native city of Detroit and helped the Steelers capture Super Bowl XL.
