No turkey leg for Jordan Love after Packers beat Lions on Thanksgiving ruffles fans' feathers

What’s Thanksgiving without a little turkey leg drama?

Not the kind that comes with calling dibs to make sure you get one at the family Thanksgiving dinner table, but the kind which lit up the internet after Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love wasn't presented with one after the Packers defeated the Detroit Lions 29-22.

On Thanksgiving Day.

In Detroit.

During the NFL’s daylong John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration.

As the star of the game, Love got a postgame interview with Fox sports reporter Erin Andrews — sans the turkey.

“You’re looking for a turkey leg, we don’t have one,” Andrews said to Love down on the field. “We’re going to make a donation on your behalf. But go be with your guys and celebrate. Happy Thanksgiving, Jordan.”

If he was expecting one or disappointed there wasn't one, a gracious Love didn’t show it, but it did ruffle the feathers of some Packers fans on social media who wondered what the heck — and a few using the kind of language that would get them booted from the kids' table.

One fan pointed out it was right up there with that time in 2021 when the Kansas City Chiefs put Love's mom and girlfriend in the last row of Arrowhead Stadium for his first NFL game as the Packers' starting quarterback.

It's tradition that the player or players of the game score a turkey leg or a hunk of turducken after winning an NFL game played on Thanksgiving. Madden started it in 1989 when he gave the first turkey leg to defensive end Reggie White after the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys. In 1997, Madden added turducken (a chicken stuffed into a deboned duck stuffed into a deboned turkey) to the tradition in 1997.

Some fans wondered if Fox Sports analyst Greg Olsen was the reason for the turkey-less moment. He was shown shoving his hand into a turducken in the broadcast booth during the game and talked off camera about helping himself to it.

Did he eat the one meant for Love? Cue the conspiracy theories.

Olsen set the record straight that his hands are clean with a tweet of his own on X.

The other two winning teams of the day, the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, feasted.

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and Daron Bland were presented with drumsticks during their postgame interview. Plus, Prescott had already snacked on one earlier when he pulled it out of an oversized Salvation Army red container during a touchdown celebration.

49ers tight end George Kittle was shown running off the field with the whole bird after his team beat the Seattle Seahawks.

Neither Love or Fox Sports have commented about it on X, but at least a few Packers fans seem to be holding a grudge.

Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @KendraMeinert. 

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Where was Jordan Love's turkey leg?, Packers fan ask on social media