The first portion of training camp is now officially in the books.
Training camp in Oxnard is complete and the Cowboys will resume their camp activities in Frisco, Texas next week.
But in between is a rare trip to Hawaii, where the Cowboys will play the Rams Saturday night at Aloha Stadium (9 p.m. kickoff CDT).
The Cowboys will depart Oxnard Thursday afternoon and arrive in Hawaii later that evening. The team will have some team activities on Friday before getting ready for the game against the Rams, the team that knocked the Cowboys out of the playoffs last season.
“I just think everybody is excited about it. Hawaii is a magical place,” head coach Jason Garrett said. “There is a great football tradition there, a lot of great players have come from there. One of our great players years ago, Mark Tuinei, is from Hawaii and so many others. But once you get around the logistical part it’s going to be fun to go over there and play a football game and hopefully grow as a team in a great environment.”
And it’s an environment owner Jerry Jones said he wishes his team could’ve experienced longer than a couple of days.
“I had hoped when we started talking about this that we could have more time there maybe some practices against each other,” Jones said of the Rams. “That didn’t work out. (But) it’s great to go over there. It’s a real enthusiastic state of NFL fans. We have a lot of Cowboys fans over there. We have a lot of communication with our fans there. It’ll be fun for us.”
This is just the NFL’s first preseason game in Hawaii since 1976. In 1979, the NFL held its Pro Bowl game in Hawaii for the majority of 35 years before officially moving to Orlando in 2016.
For the Cowboys, this will be the 36th neutral site preseason game.
“There is a real tradition of individual guys. The Pro Bowl being over there for so many years, the Hula Bowl was there for so many years, there’s a great tradition there. I think it’s something we’re really excited about doing. It’s a little bit different leaving training camp to go to Hawaii to play a game then going back to Dallas.”
