‘Not sure I’ve ever seen the trophy’ — NFL’s most obscure trophy is at stake in Chiefs’ Thanksgiving game vs. Cowboys
The winner of the Chiefs-Cowboys game on Thanksgiving will get to take home the Preston Road Trophy.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys rarely play each other, but when they suit up to play on Thanksgiving in Week 13, they’ll be playing for something more than glory, a win, and playoff seeding. The NFL’s most obscure trophy, the Preston Road Trophy, is at stake.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt used to live across the street from each other on Preston Road in Dallas, Texas, which is where the trophy got its name. Hunt first handcrafted the traveling trophy in 1998, eight years before his death. Whoever wins each head-to-head matchup, whether it’s the preseason, regular season, or postseason, gets to take home the trophy.
The Chiefs won the first Preston Road Trophy in 1998, defeating the Cowboys 20-17 at Arrowhead Stadium. It has changed hands in each of the past four games played, but Kansas City has never held it for two consecutive regular-season matchups.
The trophy is so obscure that it has also never crossed paths with Chiefs HC Andy Reid.
“Yeah, I know,” Reid said. “(I’m) not sure I’ve ever seen the trophy, but I know there’s, they have a thing going. Yeah, it’s all good.”
It’s not much to look at, so Coach Reid isn’t really missing out. It looks like something that would be awarded to the first-place winner at a Pinewood Derby, and not something traveling between owners of NFL teams. But that’s part of its allure and why each owner covets it.
It’s such an obscure trophy that Patrick Mahomes didn’t even know what media members were talking about at first when they asked him about it on Tuesday.
“I didn’t,” Mahomes said. “I know there’s a turducken. Is that the trophy?
Turducken is the trophy of Thanksgiving games if you ask the late John Madden. It took Mahomes just a minute to realize they were asking about the Preston Road Trophy.
“Oh, the owner’s trophy,” Mahomes said. “Yeah, I’ve heard of that. I didn’t even think about that. But yeah, I think we should have it right now. We won the last time we played the Cowboys. So, we’ll try to keep that in the Hunt household, I guess.”
The Chiefs currently hold the Preston Road Trophy
The Jones and Hunt families have a friendly rivalry going, with both NFL clubs getting their start in Dallas. The Preston Road Trophy keeps the spirit of that rivalry alive even though Lamar Hunt is no longer with us.
As Mahomes said, the Chiefs currently hold possession of the Preston Road Trophy after defeating the Dallas Cowboys 19-9 during the 2021 NFL season. It might seem inane, but it surely matters to Clark Hunt to hold onto the trophy that his father made. This Week 13 game is important because Dallas and Kansas City are currently tied for the most regular-season wins during the Preston Road Trophy era.
Chiefs vs. Cowboys history
- Regular season games since Preston Road Trophy’s inception in 1998: 6
- Cowboys wins: 3
- Chiefs wins: 3
While the players and coaches of both teams will have winning on the mind for other reasons, Clark Hunt and Jerry Jones will each be looking for results to get their hands on the Preston Road Trophy.
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