Giants vs. Cowboys Thanksgiving Game Sets Regular-Season TV Record with 42M Viewers

The Dallas Cowboys' 28-20 Thanksgiving Day win over the New York Giants set a record for the most-watched NFL regular-season game on network television in league history.

Fox Sports, which aired the game, delivered the news.

There were numerous reasons this game was so popular, aside from the Thanksgiving tradition of watching football.

For starters, the Giants and Cowboys are popular teams who call the No. 1 and No. 5 media markets in the United States home, respectively.

However, this game also featured a pair of 7-3 teams squarely in the playoff picture. The Giants are in year one of a rebuild under general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll, but they've engineered a surprising start and sport wins over a pair of division leaders in the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys are looking strong and own the league's No. 1 scoring defense. Led by linebacker Micah Parsons (12 sacks), Dallas looks like it could make a deep playoff run.

This matchup was also competitive until the fourth quarter.

The Giants took a 13-7 halftime lead, but the Cowboys stormed back with three straight second-half touchdowns (two in the third quarter, one in the fourth) for a 28-13 edge. New York's garbage-time touchdown with eight seconds concluded the scoring.

Both teams are off until Sunday, Dec. 4. The Giants will host the Washington Commanders, and Dallas will welcome the Indianapolis Colts into town.