Hall of Fame Game means football is finally back
The 2021 Hall of Fame Game pits the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys against each other. Yes, football is finally back in action.
Since the first week of February, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers crushed the Kansas City Chiefs, we’ve been without football.
Sure, we have training camp. We even have pads and some tackling to the ground. It’s all fine and well, but after an offseason dominated by storylines involving a disgruntled MVP quarterback and vaccination rates, we’re finally getting back to the field. Hallelujah.
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On Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys will kick off the biggest weekend ever at Canton, Ohio. The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game gets things rolling with two fo the more iconic teams the league has to offer, followed by a weekend in which a record 28 members get inducted into the Hall, spanning two classes due to COVID cancelling last year’s proceedings.
Starting this week, we won’t be without pro football once again until after Valentine’s Day.
Despite all the aforementioned talk — warranted as it might be — about non-football topics relating to the on-field product, we can get back to discussing what made us fall in love with the game in the first place. We can chat about who is going to make a respective roster and why a certain late-round pick could make a huge difference for a contender. We can get into camp battles across all 32 teams, and dissect the latest quarterback battle.
Read: Giants Show Fight, Literally, In Training Camp
This is why football is fun beyond the football itself. And all the conversation, it comes from the games.
Of course, the contest on Thursday night won’t be much for making grand predictions about the upcoming season. It’s mostly going to be a bunch of second, third and fourth-string guys either trying to firm up jobs or find a way to surprise and make the team. And, in some ways, that’s drama all of its own, just not with the likely impact in the way of immediate wins and losses.
Regardless, it’ll be fun to watch the Steelers and Cowboys take the field. It’s nice to come back to the rhythm of NFL football, something all fans can set their proverbial clock to this time of year. In a month, the real games begin.
Until then, we get to watch the beginning of it all, and there’s no point in rushing away a minute of it.
