A close-up view of DaRon Bland’s kettle celebration

The celebration of DaRon Bland’s NFL record-setting interception return for a touchdown in the Cowboys’ 45-10 blowout win over the Commanders on Thanksgiving Day was the most raucous I’ve seen in 25 years of sideline reporting. Heck, it started before he even reached the end zone and was subsequently dumped in the Salvation Army Red Kettle by teammates. As soon as Bland got the ball in his hands and began weaving 63 yards downfield, teammates and coaches and staff were jumping up and down, running down the sideline, exhorting Bland. After Bland juked three Commanders en route to his fifth pick-six of the season, the party was on.

Beyond getting dunked in the kettle, the celebration continued on the sideline. After Coach Mike McCarthy called a timeout so special teams wouldn’t get penalized for delay of game because of the prolonged kettle scene, teammates mobbed Bland when he got back to the sideline. And every single coach and staff member was down the sideline congratulating the second-year cornerback. The PAT, kickoff, and the Commanders’ first couple of plays of the ensuing drive took place before Bland could even find his seat on the bench. His day was done and it was time for backups to close out the final four and a half minutes of the game.

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What’s cool about the sideline is you can learn what teammates and coaches really think of each other by seeing the way they interact in between plays or series, or following plays, both good and bad. The unmitigated joy that everyone felt for Bland was infectious. They love his humility, happy demeanor, and hard work. And the fact that Bland was able to set the record on a holiday in front of a national audience — and with his own family in the stands attending the game — was the maraschino cherry on top of the sundae.

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Kettle cuisine: Bland wasn’t the first Cowboy to be dumped into a Red Kettle on Thursday. Just a minute and 20 seconds earlier in the 4th quarter, KaVontae Turpin caught a 34-yard TD pass from Dak Prescott.

Did Turpin know that Dak had helped stash turkey legs in the bottom of the kettle? Actually, no. Turpin said Dak had to tell him to reach to the bottom of the kettle and grab a leg wrapped in foil.

And how did Dak and teammates know to go to that particular kettle to get the turkey legs? After all, there are four kettles (two behind each end zone).

Well, all four kettles had secret stashes.

“It’s not like we had them in just that endzone, they were in every bucket,” Dak explained postgame. “DaRon could have got one himself when he jumped in the other bucket. He was just probably stepping on them. Plan to be there. And I think that says a lot, too, when you plan whether it be a touchdown celebration or a kettle celebration. It’s a mindset and I think that’s important for us to have those expectations of getting in the endzone and understanding that we’ll get back in there.”

Extra shiny red kettles: Your eyes were not deceiving you if you thought the Red Kettles had an extra sparkle. Hey, with Dolly Parton as your halftime performer everything is going to have extra shine, so the four kettles (two behind each end zone) were bedazzled. The glitz and glamour (and bedazzling) of everything Dolly touched was part of the Dolly/Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders social media campaign in the weeks leading into gameday.

Dolly rocks a DCC outfit: Dolly surprised the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders by wearing an outfit during her performance that looked like the iconic DCC uniform, including the white shorts/hotpants and the white vest with blue stars. Do you know of any other 77-year-old who can rock a DCC uniform?

Dolly performed four songs: two of her all-time greatest hits “Jolene” and “9 to 5″; and two cover songs from her new “Rockstar” album, “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You.” Those latter two songs, of course, were done originally by Queen.

Ironically, this was the second time this month the DCC has performed a Queen song at a concert. The DCC performed at the second of two Queen with Adam Lambert concerts at the American Airlines Center in early November. For that show, they danced to Fat Bottom Girls. They also performed wit Queen with Adam Lambert four years ago on the band’s previous concert stop in Dallas.

Dolly fills the kettle: Dolly didn’t leap into one of the bedazzled Red Kettles, but she filled The Salvation Army coffers with cash by making a generous donation of $1 million to the Red Kettle Campaign. So not only did she spend months preparing for the halftime show and contributing her time and talent to the cause, she also donated money to help the organization do the most good.

Over the 26 previous years the Cowboys have used their Thanksgiving Day halftime show to launch the Red Kettle Campaign. Funds raised have reached $3.56 billion. Thanks to Dolly, that number will increase markedly this year.

Turducken part of Madden tribute: I was hoping the coin toss would land on “tails” because how many times do you hear an NFL referee say the word “turducken” on Thanksgiving Day? As the NFL used each of the three games played on Thanksgiving Day to honor the late, great Hall of Fame head coach John Madden, the commemorative coins used for the coin tosses featured a silhouette of Madden as “heads” and a six-legged turducken as “tails.” The Cowboys won the toss, by the way, and elected to defer.

Every player in all three games also wore a patch featuring a silhouette of Madden on their jersey. And stencils were painted to the right of the bench area of each sideline which read “John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration” as well as white letters behind the end zones with the same message.

Green dot shuffle: Why did LB Markquese Bell have an extra helmet on the sideline Thursday? Because, with S Jayron Kearse inactive due to injury (back), Bell joined S Malik Hooker and LB Damone Clark as one of the three defensive players designated to wear a Green Dot (radio) helmet to hear the play call from defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. Only one of the three players can wear a green dot while on the field. That means Hooker, Clark and Bell had two helmets available: a regular helmet without a radio receiver and a Green Dot with the radio. Most of the time, those three were on the field together, so one (Hooker) wore his Green Dot and the others wore their regular helmets.

Hooker — who has handled the majority of Green Dot duties over the past month instead of Kearse — took the calls in this game. Hooker played 91% of snaps. Clark took the others when Hooker was on the sideline. But the fact that Coach Quinn trusts Bell to be one of three possible players to relay play calls to teammates in the huddle is a sign of trust in a young player who, in his second NFL season, is playing a new position as he transitioned from safety to linebacker.

One more note on Bell…

Cowboys injury update:  Only two Cowboys players required trips to the blue medical tent on the sideline.  LB Markquese Bell was examined for a neck/shoulder stinger in the second quarter but returned quickly to action and played 60 of 78 defensive snaps (77%). Backup LB Tyrus Wheat, who gets most of his snaps on special teams, played three snaps on defense late in the fourth quarter and took a blow to the head. He underwent a cognitive evaluation in the tent as the game ended and his status will be updated by McCarthy. RT Terence Steele didn’t go into the tent, but did have his right elbow treated (balm/gel) early in the fourth quarter. Steele did not miss any snaps and he remains the only Cowboys player on offense to have played every snap this season through 11 games.

Turkey and fixins for 93,711 of your family and friends: One last holiday-related note from AT&T Stadium. The Legends Hospitality staff helped coordinate the turkey legs in the kettles, of course. But those were a drop in the bucket, pardon the pun, compared to preparing a hearty Thanksgiving Day fare for 93,711 guests.

Final stats from the game, compliments of Legends Hospitality:

16,320 pounds of famous Cowboys Macaroni and Cheese

13,515 pounds of turkey

5,410 pounds of ham

5,130 pounds of cornbread for dressing

2,680 pounds of yukon gold potatoes

2,340 pounds of sweet potatoes

970 pounds of pumpkin for scratch-made pies

310 gallons of gravy

260 pounds of greens for salads and sides including special produce from WE Over Me Farm at Paul Quinn College

252 gallons of cranberry sauce

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.