It might be unbelievable, but National Football League Preseason football starts this week. This is the competition in the 1970s. The Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers will meet at the annual Hall of Fame game on Thursday night.
The game in Canton, Ohio is scheduled to start at the Thom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium at 8 PM Eastern Time on Thursday, August 5th. Fox The network will broadcast the game.
The annual competition is the beginning of a complete weekend event in which a new Hall of Fame class is enshrined. Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, last year’s weekend was postponed, and all preseason NFL games in 2020 have been completely cancelled, including the Hall of Fame games.
After the Cowboys and the Steelers met twice in Super Bowl 10 and 13 in the 1970s for epic battles, they developed the AFC-NFC crossover competition in the 1970s and the Steelers won twice. The Steelers won Super Bowl X 21-17 and then Super Bowl XIII 35-31. After the 1995 season, they met again in Super Bowl XXX, and the Cowboys won 27-17.
Pittsburgh brought its unbeaten record to Dallas in 2020 and beat the Cowboys 24-19. The Cowboys trailed their third-line quarterback in that game.
Photograph: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images
Dallas starting quarterback Dak Prescott suffered a terrible, season-ending ankle injury in early 2020, and the Cowboys are now fully recovered.
Inductees from the Hall of Fame this weekend will include: Alan Faneca, Tom Flores, Calvin Johnson, John Lynch, Peyton Manning, Bill Nunn, Drew Pearson and Charles Woodson.
The Hall of Fame game is the only preseason game this week. The rest of the NFL teams, which have all reported to their camp, will start the preseason next weekend. Except for Dallas and Pittsburgh, the other 30 teams will only play three preseason games. That’s because the NFL shortened the preseason by one game so they can add a 17th game to each team’s regular season schedule.
This is the complete schedule for week 1 of the NFL preseason (All time east):
Thursday, August 12
Washington Football Team of the New England Patriots, 7:30 PM (NFL Network)
Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles, 7:30 PM
Friday, August 13
Tennessee Titans of the Atlanta Falcons, 7 p.m.
Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions, 7 PM (NFL Network)
Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals, 10 PM (NFL Network)
Saturday, August 14
Chicago Bears’ Miami Dolphins, 1 p.m. (NFL Network)
Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings, 4pm (NFL Network)
Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, 7 PM (NFL Network)
New Orleans Saints of the Baltimore Ravens at 7 p.m.
The New York Jets at the New York Giants, 7:30 PM
Cincinnati Bengals of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 7:30 PM
Houston Texans at the Green Bay Packers, 8 PM
Kansas City Chiefs of the San Francisco 49ers at 8:30 PM
Seattle Seahawks at the Las Vegas Raiders, 9 PM
Los Angeles Chargers of the Los Angeles Rams, 10 PM (NFL Network)
Sunday, August 15
Carolina Panthers, Indianapolis Colts, 1 PM (NFL Network)
The regular season will officially begin on Thursday, September 9, when the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers will host the Dallas Cowboys. The first complete Sunday is September 12.
