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Dallas Cowboys: Upset Pick For Best Defender In Team History

By Erik Lambert

Dec 14, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; A Dallas Cowboys helmet on the field as players huddle in prayer with the Philadelphia Eagles after a game at Lincoln Financial Field. The Cowboys defeated the Eagles 38-27. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 14, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; A Dallas Cowboys helmet on the field as players huddle in prayer with the Philadelphia Eagles after a game at Lincoln Financial Field. The Cowboys defeated the Eagles 38-27. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Defense wins championships.  Dallas Cowboys fans remain enamored with offensive legends but it was great defenses that pave the way to five Super Bowls.

Don’t believe it?  Here’s a stat for you.  In the five championships the franchise won between 1971 and 1995, their defensive units gave up an average of 12 points in the Super Bowl.  That is remarkably good considering the level of competition they were facing.  It’s also why the fans down in Dallas have been somewhat criminal for not appreciating how many great defenders they had over the years.

Sure, there are those who remember Charles Haley, Deion Sanders, and Randy White.  That’s because they’re easy to recall.  They had personalities or reputations that were impossible to miss.  What about a Darren Woodson or an Everson Walls or a Harvey Martin?  Those are some players who would’ve been almost worshiped on other teams.  Yet they’re barely mentioned.  So it’s interesting when one asks the question of who the greatest defender in Cowboys history is.

Here’s a hint:  it’s none of the previous names mentioned.

Elliot Harrison unloaded a bit of a shocker for America’s Team in his choices for the best all-time defenders of every NFC squad.

"“Perhaps the greatest defensive tackle ever. Perhaps the greatest Dallas Cowboy ever. All these years later, Lilly still doesn’t quite receive his due — except for when we all see the grainy footage of his 29-yard-loss planting of Bob Griese in Super Bowl VI. Lilly wasn’t a sack master like Deacon Jones. Nor was he the fierce hitter that Ronnie Lott or Dick Butkus were. There aren’t LT-style highlights of Lilly bouncing around YouTube, either. Lilly was simply a cat-quick technician who broke up plays as easily as Peyton Manning utters inorganic Budweiser mentions.When you see films of Lilly, you see a guy swimming through double-teams and disrupting plays before they even had a chance to develop. After spending his first few years as a defensive end — earning Pro Bowl honors in 1962 — Lilly moved to defensive tackle in 1964. He then made 10 straight Pro Bowls before hanging ’em up. No, he didn’t tweet out a pair of hanging cleats like Beast Mode. Maybe he should have — then 19-year-olds in their dorm rooms would know who he is.”"

A big reason Lilly gets overlooked in Dallas Cowboys history is because of his humble beginnings.  He was the very first draft pick in team history and expected to lift an expansion franchise to prominence in 1960.  It took over a decade but the man fulfilled his end of the bargain, and he did it by being quietly dominant.  Just because he didn’t have the flamboyant personality doesn’t mean he wasn’t the best ever.

Lilly never missed a game in his career, went to 11 Pro Bowls, would’ve had a ton of sacks if the stat had been around in his day and was the lynch pin of the only team to never give up a touchdown in the Super Bowl (24-3 victory in 1971).

So yeah, it’s not only a good choice, it’s the right one.

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