JFG Nation, I just got off a plane and boy are my arms tired. No that’s not right. I’m a little delirious but happy to be back on the West Coast! Happy Thanksgiving Eve, everyone. I’ve mentioned it many times before, but Thanksgiving really is my favorite holiday, for the same reasons as everyone else: Meat. Carbs. More meat. More carbs. Plates of generally brown and lighter brown carbilicious items. And of course, football.

Tomorrow’s games featuring, per usual, home games with the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys are always a perfect backdrop to the gluttonfest that occurs during Thanksgiving. Best part about Thanksgiving on the West Coast: THE FOOTBALL GAMES START AT 10:00 AM. Boomshaka laka! Wait, do people still say boomshaka laka? Sigh. Let’s get right to the breakdown and picks:

Minnesota Vikings @ Detroit Lions, 1:00pm EST: UGH. Look, I know it’s been a while since the Lions have been good, but I had so much hope for them this year! All of their young guns have talent, and Matt Stafford, no longer able to rely on Calvin Johnson, was going to run an up-tempo no-huddle offense. And Weeks 1-3, they looked decent: Marvin Jones Jr. looked like the next coming of Julio Jones, but that quickly changed. MJJ disappeared, their running game STILL stinks, and mediocrity abounds. On the other side of the ball, the Vikings started out the story of the season: NO AP! NO BRIDGEWATER! But the amazing defense and *gasp* Sam Bradford was WINNING GAMES. That is, until they stopped winning them. After running up that win total, the Vikes have been sure to run up that loss total too.

All in all, this promises to be a MEH game, but I think that the Lions receiving core of Ebron, MJJ, and Tate do just enough to put Detroit in Field Goal range more times than than the Vikes. LIONS on the moneyline.

Washington Redskins @ Dallas Cowboys, afternoon game: Now THIS is the game everyone I know has been waiting for. Hey, when the hell did the NFC East become good again? Even the Eagles with their warts look to be more dynamic than most NFL teams in the league. The Cowboys, led by their rookie dynamic duo of Dak and Zeke and aided by Dez, are destroying the competition. The Cowboys love one syllable nicknames. However, the Redskins SOMEHOW are keeping pace, with the 3rd most passing yards in the league and Kirk Cousins losing his effing mind on the sidelines. HOW YOU LIKE ME NOW? HOW YOU LIKE ME NOW? I’d like you better if you stopped using catchphrases from the early 2000’s, Kirk. Still, the Cowboys are getting it done with a well balanced offense featuring Jordan Reed, Jamison Crowder, Pierre Garcon, DeSean Jackson, Marko Mitchell, Art Monk, Hingle McCringleberry, Donald Sutherland, and Moby.

Fireworks is what I expect, and am hoping for, in this game, since I have three fantasy players featured. The last I saw, the Skins were a +6 point underdog. I’m taking the SKINS in this one – feels like a trap game for the Cowboys.

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Indianapolis Colts, night game: NFL, come on. No one enjoys the evening game on Thanksgiving. I don’t care about storylines by the time 8:30pm rolls around; I’m usually bursting with food and half asleep. So, I guess in that sense, having a football game lolling around in the background is fun. But I’m not usually paying attention. Most other people will be joining me in my warm fuzzy stomach food coma on the couch, or will be (1) drunk, or (2) shopping for Black Friday deals on Thursday night like true Americans. Seriously folks, online shopping – it exists. That $40 off of that furniture set isn’t worth it getting in a shoving match with Johnny down the block.

Turning to the game, all you need to know is that Andrew Luck is basically sitting on the edge of the concussion protocol. Steelers run away with this one.

Give me your picks in the comments below, JFG Nation.

Today’s review: Quest Beyond Chocolate Cereal Protein Bar!!

The Quest Beyond Chocolate Cereal Protein Bar is the last of the three flavors Quest sent to me. Obviously, the look of the bar and the color of the box reminded me of Oreos right away, but this flavor isn’t advertised as cookies ‘n creme – it’s just chocolate. Interesting.

When I opened up this Quest Beyond Chocolate Cereal Protein Bar and sniffed, I got chocolate-y notes right away. The bar sort of looked like a Rice Kirspy treat made out of Cocoa Krispies, if Cocoa Krispies were as dark as Oreo cookies. The whte frosting on the top was interesting – definitely helped push the Oreo-like visual theme.

Biting into this Quest Beyond Chocolate Cereal Bar, however, this didn’t taste like an Oreo. The chocolate flavor was a little deeper, almost brownie-like in that it wasn’t SUPER sweet. Or, put another way, the bar reminded me of the Oreo cookie wafer by itself. Either way, I liked it – the darker chocolate flavor worked and the bar as a whole wasn’t as sweet as the other two flavors I’d had so far. The “frosting” on top helped sweeten the chocolate flavor some, but not as much as Oreo creme typically does. On the whole, I’d compare this bar more to a brownie than an Oreo. The soft chewiness helped contribute to this flavor perception, IMO.

I liked it, though, and would put it up with the other two flavors. I’d say I liked this one slightly less than the other two, but it’s really 1A, 1B, and 1C – none of them were bad at all. I like what Quest did with all of these bars, and would recommend them as between meal fill-ins.

Thank you to Quest for letting me try all three flavors!

Ok, enough of my yammering – go and cook those candied yams. I’ll see you tomorrow.

PURCHASED AT: Sent to me

COST: Looks like you can buy a box of 15 for $24.99 online

Sincerely,

The JFG