A: The Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers played each other on Thanksgiving day for many years. In the mid 1960′s, as the NFL grew bigger and gained more national media attention, they wanted to add a second game to their Thanksgiving day schedule.

No other NFL teams had interest in playing a mid-week game near the end of the season. However, Tex Schram the Cowboys’ GM at the time, saw it as a chance to put his 5 year old team in the national spotlight. So, on November 24, 1966 the Cowboys played the Cleveland Browns  and came away with their first Thanksgiving Day victory.

It worked out so well that the Dallas Cowboys have become a big part of many football fans holiday celebration and it certainly hasn’t hurt the Cowboys desire to become America’s Team.

In a decision by Wade Philips that will be second guessed for the rest of this year, Choice became the goat of the game. In reality, with only 4 seconds left and the ball on their own 35 yard line, Dallas should have kneeled on the ball and gone to the locker room trailing only 3-0. The head coach thought otherwise and it cost them a touchdown and probably the game.

The Cowboys were able to keep the game close in the second half however, and almost won on the last play of the game. A holding call against Alex Barron nullified the game winning touchdown pass from Tony Romo to Roy Williams, leaving the Cowboys shocked.

It was a game where they had plenty of chances to take the game over, but mistakes were the downfall for the offense. In order to beat the Bears next week, Dallas will need to be more consistent and find a way to get the ball in the end zone. Maybe easier said than done.

David Buehler, the Cowboys kicker, also came up huge in the preseason finale. He kicked field goals of 51, 45 and 41 yards, and then sealed the victory with a 31 yarder as time expired. Thank you Chris Boniol!

McGee probably won’t jump over Jon Kitna for the backup quarterback position with his performance tonight, 27-42 for 304 yards and a TD, but you can be sure the Cowboys will keep him around. So, all you A&M fans, take a break from your usual activities of reading about the team, watching films or playing partypoker and go ahead and buy your number 7 jerseys now!?

In a preseason filled with disappointment the Cowboys finally have something to smile about as they head into their regular season opener at Washington on September 12th.

Right now though, Wade Phillips, Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones have some tough decisions as they cull their roster down to 53 players this Saturday.

The Texas A&M Aggie quarterback has seen precious little action in his one year plus with the club, but they obviously see something they like. He stuck with the team throughout last year and seems poised to hang on again moving into the regular season.

He has a strong arm and enough intelligence to play in the NFL, but it is hard for him to get any game experience playing behind two seasoned veterans.

Keep a close eye on McGee this week against the Dolphins. He will be making a statement and I’m guessing it will be a good one!

Of the current starters who are missing time in the preseason due to injury, the offensive line has been hit particularly hard. Marc Colombo is out for another week, but should be ready to go for week 1 of the regular season against Washington. Kyle Kosier will probably take a little longer to heal and will probably miss a game or two once the season starts.

Dez Bryant is also still out with an ankle issue but has begun practicing. He may be available for the last preseason game at home against Miami, but since most of the starters will sit out that game it is hard to say whether Wade Philips will want to play him then or not. He will probably gradually be worked into the rotation slowly once the regular season starts. Look for him to make an impact in the second half of the season and hopefully be a big part of a Cowboys playoff run.

On the defensive side of the ball, Keith Brooking and Marcus Spears are healing and will be ready to go when the regular season begins against the Redskins. Gerald Sensabaugh will probably be ready by then, but his shoulder may require surgery at some point.

In all, it looks like the Cowboys will enter the regular season fairly healthy. We’ll see how the starters do this week against the Texans in the final test for most of the starters. We hope to not add any more names to this list.