UPDATE: Dallas Cowboys to face Pittsburgh Steelers in 2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game

This post has been updated. The original version of this story continues after the break.

Well would you look at that? Who wants some lottery numbers?

Less than an hour after this post went live it was announced that the Dallas Cowboys will in fact be playing in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, and they will be doing so against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The nostalgia will be present, my friends.

With this news becoming official we now have a tangible date that the 2020 season begins for the Cowboys - August 6th.

We are officially 150 days away.

Update: 1:30pm ET

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones issued the following statement about appearing in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game.

“We are very excited about being named to play in the Hall of Fame Game this year. 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.”

This calendar year afforded all of us an extra 24 hours and then this past weekend took one away. Sometimes that’s just how time goes.

Time is of the essence, moments are fleeting, we have to go back to the Old West to save the Doc, and all of that jazz.

Obviously time is one of the hardest things to find in life and it is possible that the Dallas Cowboys could be granted a little bit extra time this week.

Do you want to see the Dallas Cowboys play in the Hall of Fame Game?

It was a year ago this week that the NFL announced the 2019 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game’s two teams, the Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons. The HOF Game is the season’s first true contest as it takes place a few days before the Pro Football Hall of Fame Ceremony out in Canton, Ohio, and playing in the game is viewed as a bit of an honor (by some).

Of course, playing in the HOF game means that the two teams selected have to play in a fifth preseason game. There are many that want to see the preseason actually decrease in size down to three games, but for the purpose of the 2020 season this is the way that things are structured.

What is more important than playing in an added game (which provides one more opportunity to evaluate on-the-bubble players, although it obviously opens up another opportunity for injury) is that playing in the HOF game means that the two teams involved can report to training camp earlier than the rest of the league (last year it was a week). This would be fun.

The structure of padded practices and what not are not exactly something that could/would change for the Cowboys, but having one more week to learn an entirely new offense, defense, and way of life in general under new head coach Mike McCarthy could be invaluable.

For what it’s worth, the Cowboys, and other teams with new head coaches, can report to offseason activities earlier than the rest of the league, so getting literally as much time as possible could be something that will happen for Mike McCarthy in his first season at the helm of America’s Team.

The Cowboys last played in the Hall of Fame Game to kick off the 2017 season when Jerry Jones was enshrined into the Hall. With Jimmy Johnson and Bill Cowher going in many have noted that a game between Dallas and the Pittsburgh Steelers could be in order.

Jimmy Johnson’s Cowboys and Bill Cowher’s Steelers... what Super Bowl XXX could have been!