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In today's installment of my Favorite Underrated (or under-appreciated) Player Series: George Andrie DE 1962-1972
George Andrie played RDE next to Bob Lilly for most of his career which unfortunately gave the mediots the idea that he wasn't as good as his numbers suggested due to benefiting greatly by Lilly taking all the attention. I have found over the years that that argument doesn't hold water because if it were true then whoever they stuck in next to "Great-Player-A" would put up big numbers as well... but typically they don't.
Also, no one uses that argument against Deacon Jones playing next to Merlin Olsen, or Carl Eller playing next to Alan Page. They seem to reserve that BS for when they want to exclude a Cowboys player from something.
Andrie was selected 5 consecutive times for the Pro-Bowl from 1965-69. He was named 1st team All-Pro once plus 3 times as 2nd team All-Pro. He is credited with 97 sacks unofficially which averages out to just under 9 per season, and those are 14 game seasons too! He led the Cowboys in sacks for 4 straight seasons from 1964-67 with a high of 18.5 in 1966. Again, that was in a 14 game season
Andrie was drafted in the sixth round of the 1962 Draft by the Cowboys as a defensive end, despite not playing his senior season because the sport was dropped at Marquette University. He was named to the all-rookie team that season.
A bad back forced him into retirement and made his final season nearly non-existent. If you remove that last year (when he appeared in 3 games but started none) from his sack averages he is just under 10 per season at 9.7 per year!
Andrie scored a TD on a fumble return in the Ice Bowl and came up with big plays in a number of crucial situations. He was part of the original "Doomsday Defense".
At 6'6" he knocked down a lot of passes. Most people don't remember watching him play but he was "Too Tall" before Ed Jones came along. There are no records for this particular stat but I would bet that Andrie and Too Tall were not very far apart in that area (Jones played longer and in 16-game seasons too). He had great hands and excellent quickness and strength.
Besides being a great pass-rusher Andrie anchored the end of one of the best run-stopping teams ever. In 1968-69 the Cowboys gave up 5 rushing TDs... TOTAL! They gave up an average of 1100 rushing yards in those 2 seasons and 3.3 yards per carry. That was in an era when teams ran first and typically had at least 2 excellent RBs.
Andrie and Lilly were like Charlie Waters & Cliff Harris later on. They were always together, both on and off the field. They roomed together, hunted and fished together, and both enjoyed photography. They played extremely well together.
George Andrie played RDE next to Bob Lilly for most of his career which unfortunately gave the mediots the idea that he wasn't as good as his numbers suggested due to benefiting greatly by Lilly taking all the attention. I have found over the years that that argument doesn't hold water because if it were true then whoever they stuck in next to "Great-Player-A" would put up big numbers as well... but typically they don't.
Also, no one uses that argument against Deacon Jones playing next to Merlin Olsen, or Carl Eller playing next to Alan Page. They seem to reserve that BS for when they want to exclude a Cowboys player from something.
Andrie was selected 5 consecutive times for the Pro-Bowl from 1965-69. He was named 1st team All-Pro once plus 3 times as 2nd team All-Pro. He is credited with 97 sacks unofficially which averages out to just under 9 per season, and those are 14 game seasons too! He led the Cowboys in sacks for 4 straight seasons from 1964-67 with a high of 18.5 in 1966. Again, that was in a 14 game season
Andrie was drafted in the sixth round of the 1962 Draft by the Cowboys as a defensive end, despite not playing his senior season because the sport was dropped at Marquette University. He was named to the all-rookie team that season.
A bad back forced him into retirement and made his final season nearly non-existent. If you remove that last year (when he appeared in 3 games but started none) from his sack averages he is just under 10 per season at 9.7 per year!
Andrie scored a TD on a fumble return in the Ice Bowl and came up with big plays in a number of crucial situations. He was part of the original "Doomsday Defense".
At 6'6" he knocked down a lot of passes. Most people don't remember watching him play but he was "Too Tall" before Ed Jones came along. There are no records for this particular stat but I would bet that Andrie and Too Tall were not very far apart in that area (Jones played longer and in 16-game seasons too). He had great hands and excellent quickness and strength.
Besides being a great pass-rusher Andrie anchored the end of one of the best run-stopping teams ever. In 1968-69 the Cowboys gave up 5 rushing TDs... TOTAL! They gave up an average of 1100 rushing yards in those 2 seasons and 3.3 yards per carry. That was in an era when teams ran first and typically had at least 2 excellent RBs.
Andrie and Lilly were like Charlie Waters & Cliff Harris later on. They were always together, both on and off the field. They roomed together, hunted and fished together, and both enjoyed photography. They played extremely well together.
:bang2:
