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Thanksgiving Day Classic Football Game MVPs (Turkey Leg Awards)  
BESTS 

Tags: NFL, thanksgiving, day, football, MVP, game, Turkey Leg, Madden, All-Iron, Phil Simms, John, sports, November

In 1989, (the year of the infamous Bounty Bowl), John Madden of CBS awarded the first "Turkey Leg Award," for the game's most valuable player. Reggie White of the Philadelphia Eagles was the first recipient. The gesture was seen mostly as a humorous gimmick relating to Madden's famous multi-legged turduckens served on Thanksgiving. Since then, however, the award has gained subtle notoriety, and currently, each year an MVP has been chosen for both the CBS and FOX games. Madden brought the award to FOX in 1994, but it was abandoned and replaced with the "Galloping Gobbler" -- a running silver turkey wearing a football helmet -- when Madden left for ABC in 2002. When CBS returned to the NFL in 1998, they introduced their own award, the "All-Iron Award", which is, suitably enough, a small silver iron, a reference to Phil Simms' All-Iron team for toughness. The National Football League's Thanksgiving Classic is a series of games played during the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. Three games are played during this time; the two "day games" are hosted each year at the home stadiums of the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys, and beginning in 2006 season, the NFL Network also hosts one Thanksgiving game per season between two different teams chosen by the league. Neither NBC nor NFL Network have ever issued an MVP award for games they have aired.

	1989 - Reggie White, Philadelphia Eagles
	1990 - Troy Aikman, Dallas Cowboys
	1991 - Barry Sanders, Detroit Lions
	1992 - Emmitt Smith, Dallas Cowboys
	1993 - Richard Dent, Detroit Lions
	1994 - Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers
	1994 - Emmitt Smith, Dallas Cowboys
	1994 - Jason Garrett, Dallas Cowboys
	1994 - Sterling Sharpe, Green Bay Packers
	1995 - Herman Moore, Detroit Lions
	1995 - Brett Perriman, Detroit Lions
	1995 - Johnnie Morton, Detroit Lions
	1996 - Emmitt Smith, Dallas Cowboys
	1997 - Luther Ellis, Detroit Lions
	1998 - Randy Moss, Minnesota Vikings
	1998 - Herman Moore, Detroit Lions
	1999 - Gus Frerotte, Detroit Lions
	1999 - Germane Crowell, Detroit Lions
	1999 - Dexter Coakley, Dallas Cowboys
	1999 - Johnnie Morton, Detroit Lions
	2000 - Randy Moss, Minnesota Vikings
	2000 - Daunte Culpepper, Minnesota Vikings
	2000 - Charlie Batch, Detroit Lions
	2000 - Robert Smith, Minnesota Vikings
	2001 - Ahman Green, Green Bay Packers
	2001 - Mike Anderson, Denver Broncos
	2001 - Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers
	2002 - Troy Brown, New England Patriots
	2002 - Emmitt Smith, Dallas Cowboys
	2003 - Dré Bly, Detroit Lions
	2003 - Jay Fiedler, Miami Dolphins
	2004 - Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
	2004 - Julius Jones, Dallas Cowboys
	2005 - Ron Dayne, Denver Broncos
	2005 - Michael Vick, Atlanta Falcons
	2006 - Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys
	2006 - Joey Harrington, Miami Dolphins

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