The National Football League opens their 2022 preseason schedule on Thursday with the Las Vegas Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars meeting in the annual Hall of Fame Game in Canton Ohio. More attention will be focused on the eight inductees this year than the game itself. The list of new Hall of Fame members this year include six players, one coach and Art McNally, who was the head of officials in the league office.

The head coach inducted this year is Dick Vermeil, one of those people that if you were lucky enough to meet him you liked him. A real players coach, a guy that was always looking out for the best interest of his players and all that crossed his path. His emotional showing for his family, friends, coaches and players made the term “worn on his sleeve” trite in comparison to his manner.

The six players inducted this year include one athlete that we recently lost, Cliff Branch. The other five are LeRoy Butler, Sam Mills, Richard Seymour, Tony Boselli and Bryant Young.

During my time with the Raiders, Branch was one of my favorites. His mannerisms were not unlike you might picture a young kid on a fun filled field trip with friends. He was predictably reliable on running down passes on deep patterns for the Raiders and unreliable on keeping appearances for youth groups.

As a public relations person for the Raiders, I was the one who took requests for players and coaches to appear at events that would range from company meetings to cub scout troops. Cliff was often requested for the younger audiences, and while he accepted the engagements when asked, routinely I would get a call a few hours before the event from Cliff apologizing that he wasn’t going to be able to make it.

I always had a backup ready when booking Cliff, and they knew they would most likely be called upon to fill the spot. I don’t tell you that as any slight to Cliff, but rather just another endearing aspect of the man I wish had lived long enough to enjoy this moment of enshrinement knowing he would have most enjoyed the experience.

Then the game.

Both the Raiders and Jaguars have new head coaches running their programs. The Raiders had the problem last year with the unceremonious departure of Jon Gruden and the hiring of former special teams coach Rich Bisaccia. Even though Bisaccia guided the Raiders to the playoffs, a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the Wild Card round, he was replaced after the season by Josh McDaniels.

The longtime New England Patriots assistant, McDaniels is making his second go-around as an NFL head coach. In 2009, he was hired to mentor the Denver Broncos and things started very well, winning his first six games. Yet, two wins over the final ten weeks of that campaign left the Broncos out of the postseason and the following year McDaniels lost his job after three wins in twelve decisions.

With the Patriots, McDaniels was a reliable assistant on Bill Belichick’s staff and a member of six Super Bowl winning squads.

The Jaguars new head coach, Doug Pederson, also has Super Bowl experience. He was a backup quarterback in Green Bay when the Packers won Super Bowl XXXI and guided the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl LII triumph as head coach over the Patriots. He replaces Urban Meyer, who had a disastrous tenure as a one and done NFL head coach last year in Jacksonville. Meyer, like so many college coaches, was unable to match his college success at the pro level.

So, who wins on Thursday?

Hall of Fame games are most often unlikely candidates for wagering purposes. This one is in that group.