'It's All On The Line': Patrick Mahomes Scouts Cowboys Defense Ahead of Thanksgiving Homecoming

Thanksgiving Day is a day for family reunions. Even for those celebrating on the field against the Dallas Cowboys as millions others watch on TV.

For Patrick Mahomes, three-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs, the DFW metroplex is home. Mahomes grew up in Whitehouse, two hours outside of Arlington, where Mahomes will play inside AT&T Stadium against the "America's Team" on Thursday.

Mahomes - as is tradition nationwide - spent this holiday growing up with the Cowboys playing as plates of turkey and green bean casserole were being passed around the table. Now in Week 13 of Mahomes' ninth NFL season, he will play on Thanksgiving Day for the first time, and against his childhood team.

“You grow up watching Thanksgiving games no matter who you’re a fan of,” the Texas Tech alum Mahomes said this week. “If it’s the [Detroit] Lions, Cowboys, or whoever is playing at night, you grow up watching those games. I think that kid in me wants to be able to go out there and play on Thanksgiving and find a way to win."

About what he's excited for most? The familial aspect that he'll be able to bring to the stadium as he goes to battle against the Cowboys.

“Just getting to play back at home, and obviously have a lot of people in attendance that may not get to come up to Kansas City all the time and watch games,” Mahomes said, “It will be a really cool experience to play there [at AT&T Stadium], especially on Thanksgiving, and I’ll have a lot of family and friends in the stands.”

Mahomes' Chiefs make the trip amid a rare up-and-down year at 6-5. Still, there remains looming optimism that the two-time defending AFC Champions can run the table and return to the playoffs. After all, KC has never not been in the conference title game with Mahomes under center as a starter for the last seven seasons.

“Obviously, a short week where we’re grinding in here right now and getting the whole game plan in and making sure everybody’s prepared and ready to go. I think we’re excited to get to go out there and play on Thanksgiving against a really good football team and the whole world watching.”

He squares up against a 5-5-1 Cowboys team that is riding its first two-game win streak off of an impressive defense that has risen out of the depths it began the season in. Since the bye week - and the impactful trade deadline in which stars Quinnen Williams and Logan Wilson were added - the Cowboys have held opponents to the two lowest-scoring outputs against them this year, beating the Las Vegas Raiders 33-16 and the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21.

Mahomes has recognized the improvements from coordinator Matt Eberflus' squad.

“Obviously, they’ve been in the scheme a little bit longer and then they’ve added players, they’ve also gotten players healthy. You see that they’re playing at a higher level than they were playing at the beginning of the year," Mahomes said.

"That comes with being more comfortable with the scheme that you’re in. They’re coached really well by Coach Eberflus. They fly around to the football and they’re kind of in the same situation as us, it’s kind of all on the line. You have to go out there every single week and play your best football. And they’ve responded these last few weeks and played really good football, so it will be a great challenge for us.”

Over the past three games, the Chiefs are 1-2 and have averaged just 21 points per game - a far cry from the high-powered display Mahomes and coach Andy Reid are accustomed to during their reign as the AFC's best. Though it was just a 23-20 final, KC is hoping to carry momentum out of its overtime win over the then-8-2 Indianapolis Colts last week.

That positive energy will be buzzing on the Cowboys sideline, as well, following the tied-franchise-record 21-point comeback to beat the rival Eagles in Week 12.

It certainly is "all on the line" for both teams in terms of setting up potential playoff positioning ... or making it to the postseason at all.

Dallas' schedule remains an uphill battle with games coming up against the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Chargers after Kansas City. For the Chiefs, they'll have notable matchups with the Houston Texans, Chargers and Denver Broncos.

Each team has very little room for error, making Thursday's meeting all the more impactful.

And for the hometown hero Mahomes, he'll look to spoil the party against a defense that has been the one feasting as of late.

Dallas hosts KC at 3:30 p.m. CT on CBS.