Cowboys vs. Steelers: 5 takeaways from the Hall of Fame game

The Dallas Cowboys opened the NFL preseason on Thursday night in Canton, Ohio taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers in the annual Hall of Fame game. The Cowboys lost the exhibition by a score of 16-3 with several of the starters on both teams sitting this one out.

With only a handful of padded practices under their collective belts, the low-scoring game was every bit a preseason contest. Still, we believe there are five main takeaways we can offer our readers following the game.

Micah Parsons is the real deal

The Cowboys made Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons the 12th overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft. And on Thursday night, Parsons made his professional preseason debut. And it was a good one.

Parsons was all over the field in the first quarter making a total of three tackles. On the very first series, the 22-year old rookie linebacker recovered a fumble by Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph in a botched exchange with his running back in the backfield.

In the end, it was a stellar debut for the Cowboys’ top pick. And so far through training camp and now into the preseason, the uber-athletic and versatile linebacker has been living up to his lofty draft hype.