Michael DiRocco, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Jags list their Thanksgiving table musts

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Each Thursday I'll post a blog in which five players answer a question that has nothing to do with football. Hopefully it's a way for you to get to know the players a little better. Some weeks it'll be a fun question. Others it'll be a quirky or off-beat question. There also will be serious questions mixed in as well.

This week's question, in honor of Thanksgiving: What's the one dish you absolutely have to have on your Thanksgiving table?

Guard Jacques McClendon: "Sweet potato casserole."

From anyone in particular?

McClendon: Whoever cooked it good. I guess mom used to make a broccoli casserole that was real good. So mom's got a good casserole, so sweet potato or broccoli casserole, either one of those.

What makes a good sweet potato casserole?

McClendon: "Ooo. You're going deep. It starts with the sweet potato right. You got to the store and make sure you get that right one. And then it's got to have the brown sugar. I've got to have the brown sugar in it. Some people spice it up. I'm not a marshmallow guy. I don't like the marshmallows. Whoever makes it good."

Someone will bring you some today, then?

McClendon: "I hope. Let's see if the wife does it right. I don't know what's on the menu. I have no clue at all."


Kicker Josh Scobee: "Ooo. I like pecan pie. That's my No. 1 favorite."

Mom's? Anyone in particular?

Scobee: "It could be Publix. It could be mom's. It could be anyone. I think pecan pie and lasagna are the two things that I've had throughout my entire life that I've never had a bad serving of. It's hard to screw it up in my book."

Whip cream on the pie?

Scobee: "Whatever. Just basic pecan pie. I don't need whip cream. I don't need anything fancy."

Will your wife bake one for you today?

Scobee: "My mother-in-law will be. In-laws are in town so they'll be cooking all kinds of stuff."


Punter Bryan Anger

Anger: "My mom's stuffing, and I can't have it this year because I'm not going back, obviously, but I love my mom's stuffing."

What's special about it?

Anger: "I don't know. I don't know if it's too special. She makes it with love, I guess."

Is it just generic stuffing?

Anger: "It's handmade. She does everything herself. Not out of the box or anything."

Does she put oysters in it?

Anger: "No oysters. I don't like oysters. I really don't know what she does. I'm not in the kitchen with her. I just eat it."

Is she sending you some?

Anger: "That'd be kind of weird. It wouldn't be as good. We usually do, like, Saturday we'll do another Thanksgiving lunch and it's so good then."


Tight end Marcedes Lewis: "The one thing I have to have has to be the stuffing. I need that. The cranberry sauce. I'm a ham guy so I need that. Everything else I'm not really tripping -- oh, the dinner rolls, too."

What's so special about the stuffing?

Lewis: "Honestly, I could eat both [boxed or homemade] but normally the best stuffing I had was I had it over one of my friend's house and his grandma had the recipe so we're trying to get that recipe right now to see if we can whip it together. But obviously it's the chicken broth, the celery, the bread -- you can't not have it. It's like a filler, you know?"

Does stuffing really go with ham?

Lewis: "Oh yeah."


Defensive end Chris Smith

Smith: "I've got to have my momma's candied yams. That's what I'll be having [today]. They're coming down [Wednesday night].  But I've got to have my momma's candied yams. That's one thing that she has to make. No doubt."

What makes it so good?

Smith: "Man, it's a recipe that she got from her mom. Actually her grandma, and it's so sweet. They taste like actual candy. You know they have the phrase candied yams? They're just so sweet they actually taste like candy. It's a good thing."

Is it like sweet potato casserole?

Smith: "That's one thing I would compare it to. She doesn't put marshmallows or nothing like that, but I think she uses a lot of sugar and brown sugar. Man, it's so sweet, so good."

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