Tag: Hall of Fame Game

Steelers’ Alex Highsmith shows pass-rush potential with Hall of Fame Game spin move

At the start of his second NFL season, Steelers edge-rusher Alex Highsmith is already showing that he has what it takes to be a key cog in a great defense.

In 2020, the Steelers had the NFL’s best defense, and a lot of that came from their incendiary pass rush. Pittsburgh led the league in sacks with 56, and only the Ravens and Dolphins blitzed more often than the Steelers’ 40.3% rate. A big part of that was edge defender Bud Dupree, who amassed eight sacks and 43 total pressures before a torn ACL ended his season in Week 12.

Dupree is now in Tennessee after signing a five-year, $82.5 million contract with the Titans. That leaves the Steelers looking for T.J. Watt’s ideal bookend, and the guy who can work optimally with Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt, Pittsburgh’s dynamic inside defenders. Veteran Melvin Ingram is on board with a one-year contract, and if he can stay healthy, I think Ingram can be a big part of the pass rush.

How Melvin Ingram can shore up Steelers’ already-great defense

There are other options for head coach Mike Tomlin and his staff, though. Alex Highsmith, selected in the third round of the 2000 draft out of Charlotte, had two sacks and 21 total pressures in his inaugural NFL campaign, and he saw more time late in the season after Dupree was hurt. 17 of Highsmith’s pressures came in his last six games, which augured well for his future.

Highsmith wasted no time in proving that he was able to bring it in Year two with this sack of Cowboys quarterback Garrett Gilbert with 7:51 left in the first quarter of the Hall of Fame Game. Highsmith put Dallas left tackle Ty Nsekhe through the spin cycle, and that was that.

“In regards to the loss of Bud and the expectations and the depth and things at that position, the lynchpin to that entire discussion is the natural maturation of Alex Highsmith from Year 1 to Year 2,” Tomlin said of Highsmith in April. “You know the standard of expectations that we have for our young players moving from [Year] 1 to [Year] 2. He could be the poster boy for that. We need a significant rise in terms of all areas of play from him. But I also think it’s reasonable to expect it given what he’s been exposed to, given the quality young man that he is and his work ethic and the environment we intend to put him in. I think it’s reasonable to expect him to rise up and meet the challenges.”

It’s early yet, but so far, Highsmith looks like a natural fit as a potential starter in this great defense.

6 former Alabama players to take the field for 2021 Hall of Fame Game

Six former Alabama players will be out on the field tonight as (preseason) football returns!

Football is back! And to start the 2021 season, the NFL is gifting fans with an annual tradition: the Hall of Fame Game. This year, the game will feature two historic teams: the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Alabama fans can turn on just about any game during the NFL season and find at least one Crimson Tide product out on the field, and that sentiment remains the same with the Hall of Fame Game.

In total there will be six players out on the field tonight, or at least on the roster. Four from Pittsburgh and two from Dallas.

Steelers features: Isaiah Buggs, DE; Minkah Fitspatrick, S; Najee Harris, RB; J.C. Hassenauer.

Dallas features: Trevon Diggs, CB; Amari Cooper, WR.

Both teams have former Alabama players that are young in the league and some that are veterans.

Roll Tide Wire looks forward to covering their performances throughout the contest.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion.

4 storylines to follow in the 2021 Hall of Fame game

There will be some form of football to watch!

Football. Is. Back! Rejoice!

Well, kind of back. The 2021 NFL preseason, which has been reduced to three games for the majority of teams for the first time, kicks off with the Hall of Fame game between the Steelers and the Cowboys.

Since it’s the first game of the preseason, there won’t be too much to discern from this game as it pertains to regular season action, but there will still be storylines that start here to follow throughout the rest of the preseason.

There obviously won’t be any Dak Prescott or Ben Roethlisberger in this game, but dang it, football is back. Here are a few things in the Hall of Fame game that won’t just be important tonight, but tidbits to follow throughout the preseason.

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McCarthy managing injuries already; Cowboys prep for ‘in-season mode’

With 2 weeks to go before returning to Dallas, the Cowboys are pacing themselves on the injury front as they transition to the season.

And just like that, the Cowboys suddenly have a game to get ready for. Sure, debate the merits of the Hall of Fame Game and just how closely it actually resembles regular-season action, but it’s a critical step nonetheless in the team’s 2021 training camp schedule. And it’s still “our guys versus their guys” as players prepare for enemy fire.

Just how much any of the Dallas starters will play remains to be seen, but several of the roster’s top talents are already on the shelf for Thursday night’s exhibition skirmish against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Among the Cowboys who will be watching only are quarterback Dak Prescott, wide receiver Amari Cooper, edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence, and kicker Greg Zuerlein.

None were likely to take many snaps in Canton (if any), but if that were the inactive list for a real game, there would be borderline panic. As it is, head coach Mike McCarthy is already thinking about the injury status of his team.

“Our injury list is getting a little long,” McCarthy told the media during a pre-practice press conference in Oxnard on Sunday. “We play Thursday night, we get back here very late Friday, and then we have the competitive practice Saturday against the Rams. So I’m focusing on the balance of reps between the game and that Saturday practice, because that’s almost like a two-part focus for us… I’ve got to make sure I take care of the roster from a health standpoint.”

The Cowboys have two full preseason games- plus the aforementioned joint practice alongside the Rams in between- all in the next 13 days. It will be a punishing stretch for players already nursing dings from practice sessions.

Prescott hasn’t thrown since he left Wednesday’s practice- the team’s first with pads this camp- early. Tests revealed a muscle strain in his right shoulder. But McCarthy says the minor setback for Prescott didn’t alter his practices as backups Garrett Gilbert, Ben DiNucci, and Cooper Rush got more work with the offense.

“The script for these first eight practices really don’t change,” McCarty explained. “The target is about getting the installs in.”

Cooper, Lawrence, and Zuerlein have yet to participate in team-on-team drills. The club hasn’t expressed any worry about them being ready to go by Week 1, but McCarthy is cognizant of the need to keep his players from pushing things too hard during the offseason.

“There’s a sense, in talking to the staff: some of these guys we’ve got to protect from themselves,” McCarthy said. “Their training is so over the top.”

The good news is that training will start to fall away the closer the team gets to the established and repetitive rituals of the regular season. The coach admits that will become easier to do once the Cowboys return to their home at The Star in Frisco.

“Once we get into next week, we’re going to start trying to get into an in-season mode. We’re coming to the point in training camp where you’ve got to transition your team out of install-football into in-season football. You’ve got to get everybody regulated.”

The California trip has been a fun re-entry into gridiron normalcy, and still has nearly two weeks to go. But the intensity is about to get cranked up a little higher once the players square off against guys wearing different uniforms.

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Cowboys’ 4-game preseason schedule announced

Dallas will kick off the 2021 exhibition slate versus the rival Steelers and finish it by hosting Trevor Lawrence and Urban Meyer’s Jaguars.

Some call them meaningless games, but the Dallas Cowboys will soon line up and play football against teams wearing other uniforms. The NFL released the full schedule of 2021’s preseason games on Thursday.

The exhibition slate has been trimmed from the traditional four games to three for most teams, but the Cowboys will play one extra this year thanks to their inclusion in the annual Hall of Fame Game (a holdover from 2020, when the game was scrapped- along with the league’s entire preseason- due to COVID-19 concerns).

The Cowboys will square off against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Canton, Ohio on Thursday, August 5. That game will be the culmination of the combined 2020-2021 Hall of Fame Enshrinement Week festivities, in which Jimmy Johnson, Cliff Harris, and Drew Pearson will take their place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Next, the Cowboys will travel to the desert to take on Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals for their second preseason contest. The rematch of last season’s 38-10 drubbing comes on Friday the 13th of August.

The team will come home to AT&T Stadium for their final two preseason games. On Saturday, August 21, they’ll host the Houston Texans for state bragging rights and the Texas Governor’s Cup. And on Sunday, August 29, Dallas will welcome top overall draft pick Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars to town under new head coach Urban Meyer.

The Cowboys will also kick off the NFL’s regular season when they meet the Super Bowl-champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers on September 9.

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News & Notes: Ezekiel Elliott, Mike McCarthy eyed for honors; a Tavon Austin return?

Dallas Cowboys news for June 25, 2020: a look at the Jimmy-vs-Jerry feud 25 years later, Hall of Fame fallout, and La’el Collins trade talk.

Just six weeks before it was set to be played, the NFL postponed the Hall of Fame Game between the Steelers and the Cowboys, as well as the Hall of Fame ceremony. This isn’t a great sign for the season starting on time, despite Roger Goodell announcing that training camps are still set for July 28.

Behind the best running back in the NFC East (according to Maurice Jones-Drew) and one of the best candidates for Coach of the Year, Mike McCarthy, the Cowboys were named favorites to win their division by Pro Football Focus. Tavon Austin reuniting with his former coach John Fassel could help spark the Cowboys special teams. And there’s still the looming threat of a Jamal Adams-to-Dallas trade. Latest reports say that the Jets want La’el Collins and extras; how should Dallas respond? All that and more make up the Dallas Cowboys News and Notes for June 25, 2020.

ESPN: Cowboys-Steelers Hall of Fame Game canceled :: Cowboys Wire

The 2020 NFL Hall of Fame Game and Enshrinement Week festivities have been postponed until 2021 amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

Examining the Cowboys feud that still smolders: Jerry Jones vs. Jimmy Johnson :: The Athletic

The Jerry Jones vs. Jimmy Johnson feud has been going on for a quarter of a century at this point. Boys will be boys, but it seems high time that these two near-octogenarians bury the hatchet before it’s too late. Here’s an excellent recap of what’s kept the blood boiling for all these years.

PFF picks favorite to win NFC East in ’20 :: NFL Network

George Chahrouri details why PFF believes the Cowboys, and not the Eagles, will win the NFC East this year.

MJD’s Top 5 NFC East RBs of 2020 :: NFL Network

Maurice Jones-Drew ranks his top five NFC East running backs. Ezekiel Elliott beat out Saquan Barkley for the top spot. While Tony Pollard was nowhere to be found, he could easily be a top five back in the East in the upcoming season.

Is Mike McCarthy the Top NFL Coach of the Year Candidate? :: Sports Illustrated

Coach of the Year is an interesting accolade that doesn’t always go to the best coach or the best team. Check out why Sports Illustrated‘s Albert Breer believes 2020 could be the perfect storm for Mike McCarthy to win the honor.

Seven 1970s rivalries that made the NFL ‘super’: Roger Staubach’s Cowboys part of several epic matchups :: CBS Sports

The 1970s were the days that helped the Cowboys earn their nickname of “America’s Team,” and this list shows why. In a ranking of the top rivalries of the decade, the Cowboys are featured in four of the top seven matchups.

Brooks: Cowboys have ‘two-to-three-year window’ to win Super Bowl :: NFL Network

NFL Network’s Bucky Brooks shares why the Dallas Cowboys need to win a Super Bowl within the next few years.

Bringing back Tavon Austin could be a wise investment for the Cowboys :: Blogging The Boys

Tavon Austin didn’t necessarily live up to expectations in Dallas, but Matt Holleran of Blogging The Boys suggests the Cowboys bring back the veteran as a low-risk high-reward fourth receiving option.

Jets reportedly targeting La’el Collins; should Cowboys say no? :: Cowboys Wire

The Jets’ price tag on Jamal Adams could continue to shift as the season draws closer. Latest reports state that the Jets have their eyes on Cowboys right tackle La’el Collins. Would it be smart for the Cowboys to give up such a solid lineman on a team friendly deal?

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Cowboys’ Johnson, rest of Class of 2020 to wait for Hall of Fame induction

Dallas Cowboys greats Jimmy Johnson and Cliff Harris have their Hall of Fame enshrinement dreams pushed back even further.

It’s official: the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2020 class will have to wait even longer for enshrinement. The cancellation of the first exhibition game of the year between the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers was announced Thursday morning and is set to be made up next year; it was only a matter of time before this news followed.

The class that was to be the biggest in the NFL’s storied history, with 20 players, coaches, and contributors slated to receive the famed bronze bust split into two ceremonies, will have to wait even longer for their moment in the sun.

For the Cowboys, two greats are affected. The first is former head coach Jimmy Johnson, the architect of the ’90s dynasty that resulted in three world championships. Johnson, of course, ended up with just two of those rings before his relationship with owner Jerry Jones soured and became untenable. The other is safety Cliff Harris, who played in five Super Bowls throughout the 1970s, won two of them, and was a member of the All-Decade team.

Harris was one of two positional players of the All-Decade team that had yet to receive the call from Canton. The other, of course, is wide receiver and the original 88, Drew Pearson.

Johnson’s pro coaching career lacked the length that many Hall of Fame coaches enjoyed. He lasted just nine years and won only 80 games.

The wait for a gold jacket has been long overdue for both Dallas legends. Now the wait will be just a little longer.

NFL to cancel Hall of Fame Game, postpone HOF induction ceremony

The NFL will cancel this year’s Hall of Fame Game, and will also postpone this year’s induction ceremony.

As first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the NFL has decided to cancel the 2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, and also to postpone the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. The game was supposed to take place on August 6, and the ceremony on August 8. The cancellation and the postponement come as the NFL tries to wrestle with the logistics of putting on a season in the wake of a coronoavirus pandemic that doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon.

The league had not had to cancel or postpone any events until now. Free agency went on through the pandemic, and the league’s first virtual draft went off with relatively few hitches. But when it comes to playing actual games, and putting thousands of people in an indoor or outdoor event, that becomes a different story. At this time, per Schefter, the plan is for the Cowboys and Steelers, the two teams that were to play in this year’s Hall of Fame Game, to play it in 2021.

Per league policy and tradition, the Cowboys and Steelers would have reported to training camp a week early to prepare, but now, the plan is for both teams to report on July 28, along with most other NFL teams.

ESPN: Cowboys-Steelers Hall of Fame game canceled

The network’s Adam Schefter is reporting that the NFL has canceled the Hall of Fame Game, scheduled for August 6 in Ohio, due to COVID-19.

Football fans have watched cautiously as the COVID-19 pandemic directly impacted all of the major sports other than their own. Apart from forcing the draft to go virtual, closing down team facilities for most of the offseason, and eating into the window for things like unofficial workouts and rookie minicamps, the global health crisis had not permanently claimed anything of substance from the NFL as it prepared for the 2020 season.

But now the first game has been taken off the schedule.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that the league has scrapped the annual Hall of Fame Game, which had been set to take place August 6 in Canton, Ohio between the Cowboys and the Steelers.

Ohio’s governor had already gone on record as saying that playing the game in an empty stadium was a distinct possibility. As recently as June 16, he said of the scheduled game, “It would be very dangerous to do it today.”

Steelers defensive end Cam Heyward told the Tribune-Review that he felt playing the game under current conditions was a bad idea, saying, “We talk so much about safety. Why would we want to expose two teams to an extra game a week early?”

The NFL has agreed with that assessment, given that the country saw a new single-day record for new coronavirus cases just this week.

The Cowboys and Steelers will apparently now kick off the 2021 preseason in next year’s Hall of Fame Game, according to Shcefter’s sources.

The accompanying enshrinement ceremony, which was to include the induction of Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson and Steelers coach Bill Cowher, will also move to next summer.

Teams are scheduled to report to their facilities on July 28, but, according to Schefter, “there has been no definitive word from the NFL about whether that will happen.” Whether the Hall of Fame Game’s cancellation affects when the Cowboys players report to training camp is unknown. There was some speculation that the Cowboys and Steelers might be allowed to report earlier to allow coaches time to prepare their rosters for the game.

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Report: NFL players ‘will arrive on time’ on July 28; Cowboys, too?

NFL insider Ian Rapoport says the start date likely means a shortened preseason and no early pre-camp work, which may affect the Cowboys.

A 2020 NFL season is still not a certainty. But it appears set to take a sizable step toward becoming more likely. According to league insiders Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport, players will report to their team facilities on Tuesday, July 28.

This date would technically be an on-time start for most clubs’ training camps, but would eliminate the possibility of any early pre-camp work for rookies and others. Rapoport points out that, given the lack of access players have had to their facilities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be a “ramp-up period” required after the start date and will likely necessitate an abbreviated preseason.

The Cowboys, by virtue of having a first-year head coach, would typically be allowed a one-week head start at camp under normal circumstances. As Rapoport notes, though, some teams are moving forward under the assumption that there will be no early reporting for anyone this offseason.

Even with a July 28 start for all 32 NFL organizations, the Cowboys and Steelers may ultimately feel the impact of a shortened preseason before the other clubs. Dallas and Pittsburgh are scheduled to meet in the annual Hall of Fame Game, the traditional kickoff to the preseason’s slate of games. The game is slated to be played in Canton, Ohio on August 6, just nine days after players will have reported.

Ohio’s governor has already cast considerable doubt on the game being open to fans. Other options for the exhibition may include hosting the game and coinciding Hall of Fame induction ceremonies at a later date, or even canceling the game outright.

The league’s 32 teams were informed by the league earlier this week that they must formulate and submit response plans complete with detailed protocols and personnel “tiers” that will dictate who can go where at team facilities, including places like the locker room, training room, sidelines, and practice fields. Those plans are to be turned into the league “seven days before the first mandatory reporting date for players for the 2020 NFL season.”

It now appears that the first mandatory reporting date is July 28.

The NFL will host a video conference meeting with team owners on Thursday to address a number of topics. Training camp and 2020 season planning are among the items on the agenda.

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