Santa is not forgetting NFL fans this Christmas. If there are no footballs and jerseys under the tree, not to worry. There will be games for NFL betting fans on Christmas Day.
Indeed, NFL Christmas games, 2023, will more than satisfy those of us who thrill to hail Mary touchdown passes and crunch times in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
According to the recently released NFL schedule, on Christmas there will be three pro football showdowns to check out. No doubt, with those games for Christmas Day, we will have more than turkey, ham and gingerbread cookies to keep us in the holiday spirit.
For starters, at 1 p.m. ET, just as the presents have been opened and the wrapping paper cleared away, the NFL Christmas Day schedule commences with the Kansas City Chiefs squaring off against Las Vegas Raiders.
The game takes place in Kansas City and smart money in NFL expert picks is with the home-team to prevail. During the last five meetings between the Chiefs and Raiders, the Chiefs have won. Taking a broader view, they emerged victorious in 10 of the last 11 matchups.
Right after that confrontation, at 4:30 p.m. ET, a brutal rivalry will play out when the New York Giants square off against the Philadelphia Eagles. NFC Champions from the 2022 season, the Eagles invariably bring their all to meetings against the Giants.
With some 99 miles separating Philadelphia and New York City, the game will have hometown pride at stake. Considering that both sides will likely be in the offing for playoff positions, competition should be especially fierce.
Finishing up the games to play on Christmas day, at 8:30 p.m. ET, the Baltimore Ravens will be visiting San Francisco 49ers. A virtual rematch from the 2013 Super Bowl, in which the Ravens aced it by the narrow margin of 34-31, this game promises to have both teams coming in hot.
Getting to watch quarterbacks Brock Purdy and Lamar Jackson going up against one another will be a Christmas wish come true.
And that all comes on the heels of 10 Christmas Eve games.
Those begin at 1:00 p.m. ET, on December 24, with a six-pack of football that will have us channel surfing between matchups that include the Indianapolis Colts at Atlanta Falcons and the Washington Commanders visiting New York Jets.
Last minute Christmas gift wrapping can kick off at 8:15 p.m. ET, while watching the New England Patriots at Denver Broncos.
With the NFL on Christmas day becoming a holiday tradition, fans have plenty to look forward to – and to look back at.
Surely, we all remember Xmas games 2022, highlighted by Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers entering the fourth quarter down 10 points to Trace McSorley and the Arizona Cardinals. But in classic TB12 fashion, Tampa Bay tied the game during that final quarter and won it in overtime.
Other memorable NFL Christmas moments: When the Miami Dolphins played Kansas City Chiefs in 1971, the game entered double overtime and clocked in at 82 minutes and 40 seconds, making it the longest NFL game in history.
The Dallas Cowboys vs Arizona Cardinals showdown, of Christmas Day, 1995, may be famous for Troy Aikman having passed for 350 yards, but it also got memorialized by Hollywood, with footage from the game being used in the Tom Cruise movie Jerry Maguire.
Chicago Bears fans still talk about the Christmas, 2005, game when Bears defenders snagged four interceptions off the Green Bay Packers’ Brett Favre, leading Chicago to win the game 24-17, with Favre throwing zero touchdown passes.
Talk about winding up with coal in your Packers’ colored Christmas stocking...
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to Alamy*
