“Monday Night Football” again was a largely forgettable contest in Week 9, but at least Jon Gruden blessed us with his newest, perhaps most bizarre football term: the turkey hole.
The Detroit Lions breezed to a win over the Brett Hundley-led Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field in a game that lacked in both entertainment and competition. So, it was on Gruden and his “Monday Night Football” cohort, Sean McDonough, to come up with ways to keep viewers entertained … and they apparently settled on “the turkey hole.”
After Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford squeezed a pass in between two Packers defenders down the sideline, Gruden recalled a conversation with former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Brad Johnson where the two talked about fitting passes into tight spaces. Gruden, he revealed Monday night, refers to those as “turkey hole” passes.
It was as weird as it sounds.
There was one slight problem, however. Amid the discussion, Lions running back Ameer Abdullah fumbled on a carry up the middle, and the Packers recovered. The referees didn’t see the fumble at first, and apparently neither did ESPN, as the “turkey hole” conversation continued.
It wasn’t until Green Bay challenged the ruling on the field that ESPN finally started to let viewers in on the secret. The game then went to commercial and returned with the Packers in possession of the football, as the officials’ review ruling came during the TV break.
But at least we got some “turkey hole” talk.
