DMN article on Lee

[cowboycolors]

In a moment of reflection before Sunday's momentous occasion, his first playoff game in seven injury-scarred seasons as a Cowboy, Sean Lee cites several factors that finally got him here.

Countless hours of rehab. Perseverance. The training regimen implemented by the Cowboys' medical and coaching staffs. Lee's 2015 switch from middle linebacker to weakside linebacker.

"And I think I've had a little bit of luck," he says.

Then there was the epiphany, from the pivotal phone call about which the public never knew. It was a heart-to-heart. Linebacker-to-linebacker.

The caller was Cowboys great Lee Roy Jordan. Lee had undergone toe surgery that knocked him out of the 2012 season's last 10 games. Jordan wanted Lee to know that he, too, had serious injuries early in his career.

"For Lee Roy Jordan, the guy that I look up to, a legend within this franchise, to call me and say, 'Hey, listen, I've been through it, and I know that you can deal with it,' was an unbelievable amount of motivation for me," Lee says.

"To me, it was the ultimate. It gave me a ton of confidence to really work through these injuries and know, on the back end, I can come through this and be all right."

Jordan overcame a punctured kidney in his rookie season and a broken foot arch the following year to forge a 14-year Cowboys career, including a streak of 154 consecutive starts that stood as the franchise record until Jason Witten broke it this season.

Lee, 30, has missed 37 of 112 games, playing the equivalent of 4.6 NFL seasons. But during his past two mostly healthy seasons, NFL statistics credit Lee with 273 solo and assisted tackles, second most in the league behind Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner's 281.

Cowboys statistics, culled from game tapes, credit Lee with 326 tackles, including 174 en route to being voted first team All-Pro this season. His 22 tackles against the Giants on Dec. 11 broke the franchise record of 21 that he shared with the linebacker with whom he's most often compared.

Lee Roy Jordan, naturally.

"It pleases the heck out of me to think anyone is comparing me with Sean, I guarantee you that," Jordan says. "That is a real compliment to me."

Jordan, 75, and Chuck Howley are the only linebackers in the Cowboys' Ring of Honor. Why neither of those 1960s and '70s stalwarts of Dallas' Doomsday Defense is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame remains one of the sport's most baffling oversights.

Nevertheless, Jordan's ongoing friendship with Lee has given him a special connection to the current Cowboys, who tied a franchise record with 13 regular-season victories and on Sunday will host Green Bay in a divisional playoff game.

Jordan is aware that it will be Lee's first playoff game.

"I'm so excited about it," Jordan says. "I just love his style and knowledge and everything. It just seems like it's up and above most people's. I really love watching him play."

Jordan and Lee occasionally speak by phone, but during a visit to The Star a few weeks ago to tour the facilities and watch the Cowboys practice, Jordan made a point to seek out Lee. Not that he needed to, since Lee already had spotted him and was walking in his direction.

"Every time he comes out, I make sure to pay my respects to him," Lee says. "Because, for us, he's a guy we look up to because of the way he played on the field, the way he is off the field. He is a complete role model for all of us.

"That's a career that we all want to have and a guy we all want to be like."

 

[cowboycolors]

pretty much sums up what Cowboys fans already knew about LEE.



Now go get a Ring Sean

 

[ROMOTOOWENS]

I told this story last yr. It kind of shows what kind of guy Lee is as well as the small world we live in. It was around Thanksgiving 2015- I was at my boys middle school basketball practice. I was talking to some of the other parents. An elderly lady walked in and sat down on a bleacher by herself. I had never seen her before. After about 15 minutes - I started to worry that she may be in the wrong part of the school so I went and began talking to her. She was actually there watching her grandson. She said she had flew in the day before from Pennsylvania for the holidays. So we began talking. She talked about James Franklin- the Penn St football coach. Before Penn St. he was the coach at Vanderbilt. Very popular fellow in my area. So then the Steelers came up. She reached in her purse and brought out the Terrible Towel. I swear she knew who the third string left guard was in 1975 ha. Then I broke the news to her that I was a Cowboy fan. She actually did not hate our team. She is actually neighbors with Sean Lees parents. It never crossed my mind Penn St/ Sean Lee etc. She talked about how he mowed her yard growing up. She said she would wake up and while drinking coffee she would watch him run sprints in his back yard. She said everytime he comes into town he makes it a point to stop over and say hello.

Now she could have made the whole thing up. She just knew too much for it not to be true. Ha

 

[Godstree]

pretty much sums up what Cowboys fans already knew about LEE.



Now go get a Ring Sean

Both Lee's are just awesome players/people.