Jerry Jones and his team are headed to a familiar neck of the woods. On Tuesday it was announced the Dallas Cowboys would be traveling to Canton, Ohio, to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame game on August 6. The club had lobbied the league for the honor and was rewarded.
The annual game kicks off both the 2020 NFL exhibition season, as well as the Hall of Fame Enshrinement weekend. The selected teams, Dallas and Pittsburgh, are fitting when considering this years Hall of Fame class includes Cowboys legends Jimmy Johnson and Cliff Harris, and former Steelers Troy Polamalu and Bill Cowher.
Nothing gets done in Dallas without Jones pulling some strings, and this was no different. The Cowboys’ electric owner and general manager gave a statement on the announcement, saying,
“We are very excited about being named to play in the Hall of Fame Game this year.” Jones would add, “When we learned that Jimmy Johnson would be involved in the August (and not September) ceremony in Canton, we approached the Hall of Fame and expressed a strong interest in being a part of honoring his legacy and induction by bringing our team and Cowboys fans to Canton.”
Jones and Johnson have had their fair share of documented grievances. The fact Johnson still isn’t in the Cowboys Ring of Honor resurfaced into the news stream when it was publicized the two-time Super Bowl winning coach was joining this year’s class. Despite their past, Jones bringing the Cowboys to Canton to help honor Johnson seems to be a step in the direction of reconciliation between the two former colleagues.
Being selected for the Hall of Fame game also has unique offseason implications.
Taking place on August 6, the game is one week earlier than the normal preseason opener. To combat that disadvantage, the two teams are given an extra week at the start of training camp to prepare for the season. This added week could be exceedingly important for first-year head coach Mike McCarthy and a Cowboys team that is set to feature a virtually brand new coaching staff, as well as many expected personnel changes.
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Both Dallas and Pittsburgh have made the memorial weekend of football into a habit, as the 2020 Hall of Fame game will mark the seventh game for each franchise involved, an NFL record. It will be the fourth such game for Dallas since the turn of the century.
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