The NFL returns on Thursday night. The Jacksonville Jaguars and the Las Vegas Raiders will square off at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio for the Hall of Fame Game, the first preseason game of 2022. The contest will kick off at 8 p.m. ET and air on NBC. The game can also be streamed on NFL+.
The Jaguars are looking to turn things around this season. Since reaching the AFC Championship game in 2017, Jacksonville has finished last in the AFC South for the last four seasons. In 2021, Urban Meyer was the head coach but was fired due to a lack of wins and off-the-field issues. This year, Super Bowl champion Doug Pederson takes over as head coach and is looking to score a lot of points with second-year quarterback Trevor Lawrence and running back Travis Etienne.
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But for Thursday night’s game, Jake Luton will start at quarterback so the team can get some in-game looks at him. “I’m excited,” Luton, the third-team quarterback said, per the Jaguars’ official website. “They let me know I was going to start. I’m just excited to be back in a Jaguars uniform and to get to go out and play with the guys, so I couldn’t be more fired up.”
The Raiders are coming off of a season where they made the playoffs for the first time since 2016. But like the Jaguars, Las Vegas made a coaching change and hired former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to be the head coach. The team also made a big trade and signing when they acquired wide receiver Davante Adams of the Green Bay Packers.
“When I slapped that jersey on to do the media day stuff the other day, that’s when it really hit me,” Adams said back in June, per the Raiders’ official website. “That was my first time putting the real gear on. I like to stop and appreciate stuff along the way.” Since it’s the Hall of Fame Game, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022 will be honored before their ceremony on Saturday. This year’s Hall of Fame class includes Tony Boselli, Cliff Branch, LeRoy Butler, Sam Mills, Richard Seymour, Bryant Young, Dick Vermeil and Art McNally. Boselli, an offensive lineman, spent his entire career with the Jaguars. Branch, a wide receiver, spent his entire career with the Raiders, and Seymour, a defensive lineman, was with the Raiders for the final four seasons of his career.
