Most Underrated Cowboy of All-Time

[Clarke82]

There are tons of great answers but I believe it comes down to 2 guys; John Niland and Jethro Pugh.

John Niland played for 9 seasons with the Cowboys at LG and was named ALL-PRO 3 times along with 6 Pro Bowl appearances in addition he
is arguably the best Pulling Guard in Cowboys history.

Jethro Pugh played 14 years with the Cowboys. At LDT he lead the Cowboys in sacks 6 times. In addition he was a Brilliant run defender.
He was criminally overlooked when it came to Post Season Honors. From 1967 to 1972 he had seasons of 9, 15.5, 13, 13.5, 13.5, 8.5 sacks and he was 2nd team ALL-PRO in 1968 but was never chosen for a Pro Bowl.

I think even though both are way underrated, I think Jethro Pugh is the choice.

 

[Bobhaze]

There are tons of great answers but I believe it comes down to 2 guys; John Niland and Jethro Pugh.

John Niland played for 9 seasons with the Cowboys at LG and was named ALL-PRO 3 times along with 6 Pro Bowl appearances in addition he
is arguably the best Pulling Guard in Cowboys history.

Jethro Pugh played 14 years with the Cowboys. At LDT he lead the Cowboys in sacks 6 times. In addition he was a Brilliant run defender.
He was criminally overlooked when it came to Post Season Honors. From 1967 to 1972 he had seasons of 9, 15.5, 13, 13.5, 13.5, 8.5 sacks and he was 2nd team ALL-PRO in 1968 but was never chosen for a Pro Bowl.

I think even though both are way underrated, I think Jethro Pugh is the choice.

Those are some good examples. I would add the very underrated WR Tony Hill.

Hill played from ‘77 to ‘86 in an era when the running game was paramount. But he still had 479 receptions and averaged nearly 17 yards per reception. In his ten seasons in Dallas, he led the team in receptions and yardage 9 times. And he played in 17 playoff games, had 46 playoff receptions and 4 playoff TDs including 1 in a SB.

Hill was overshadowed by HOF WR Drew Pearson and yet was still a member of the Cowboys 50th anniversary team. Shout out to the greatly underrated Tony “Thrill” Hill.

 

[RS12]

This list could literally be a mile long. It is hard to argue against Jethro Pugh and his 96 career sacks at DT. Though many will argue playing next to Bob Lilly who was double and triple teamed every play was a huge plus.

A player nobody talks about is Tony Tolbert one of the best LDE to play here, and did much of it playing on one good leg.

Another player nobody ever mentions is Kelvin Martin. All he ever did was move the chains and make clutch plays.

 

[Cowboys5217]

Aikman is the most underrated. All the guy did was have one of the best post season careers in NFL history, became only the third QB in NFL history to win more than 2 SBs, was a SB MVP, and the first to win 3 in 4 years.

And yet he gets trashed on all the time, even by some Cowboys fans. Makes no sense at all.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

This list could literally be a mile long. It is hard to argue against Jethro Pugh and his 96 career sacks at DT. Though many will argue playing next to Bob Lilly who was double and triple teamed every play was a huge plus.

A player nobody talks about is Tony Tolbert one of the best LDE to play here, and did much of it playing on one good leg.

Another player nobody ever mentions is Kelvin Martin. All he ever did was move the chains and make clutch plays.

Wonder why the NFL doesn’t acknowledge those sacks pretty impressive to get those from the interior.

 

[GINeric]

Deuce Vaughn.....

 

[Cowboys5217]

Wonder why the NFL doesn’t acknowledge those sacks pretty impressive to get those from the interior.

The stupid reasoning from the NFL is that they only officially started tracking sacks as a stat around 1982 or so. But we have game films going back to the late 1960s. Stats geeks could easily compile all the sack totals from the 1970s. They pretty much already have.

Other sports have recognized previously unknown stats with the advent of the same aforementioned stats geeks watching old films. I think Nolan Ryan regained the record for fastest pitch as a result, but I might be recalling that wrong in the moment.

 

[ologan]

There are tons of great answers but I believe it comes down to 2 guys; John Niland and Jethro Pugh.

John Niland played for 9 seasons with the Cowboys at LG and was named ALL-PRO 3 times along with 6 Pro Bowl appearances in addition he
is arguably the best Pulling Guard in Cowboys history.

Jethro Pugh played 14 years with the Cowboys. At LDT he lead the Cowboys in sacks 6 times. In addition he was a Brilliant run defender.
He was criminally overlooked when it came to Post Season Honors. From 1967 to 1972 he had seasons of 9, 15.5, 13, 13.5, 13.5, 8.5 sacks and he was 2nd team ALL-PRO in 1968 but was never chosen for a Pro Bowl.

I think even though both are way underrated, I think Jethro Pugh is the choice.

Willie(Townes), (Bob) Lilly, George (Andrie), and…..Jethro (Pugh)!

 

[DuncanIso]

There are tons of great answers but I believe it comes down to 2 guys; John Niland and Jethro Pugh.

John Niland played for 9 seasons with the Cowboys at LG and was named ALL-PRO 3 times along with 6 Pro Bowl appearances in addition he
is arguably the best Pulling Guard in Cowboys history.

Jethro Pugh played 14 years with the Cowboys. At LDT he lead the Cowboys in sacks 6 times. In addition he was a Brilliant run defender.
He was criminally overlooked when it came to Post Season Honors. From 1967 to 1972 he had seasons of 9, 15.5, 13, 13.5, 13.5, 8.5 sacks and he was 2nd team ALL-PRO in 1968 but was never chosen for a Pro Bowl.

I think even though both are way underrated, I think Jethro Pugh is the choice.

Niland should be in HoF.

#elite

 

[DuncanIso]

Willie(Townes), (Bob) Lilly, George (Andrie), and…..Jethro (Pugh)!

Andrie was #elite too

 

[Point-of-the-Star]

Harvey Martin certainly deserves some notable recognition. Underrated by the NFL or he'd hold the season record for sacks.

My choice would be Bill Bates. "Tom Landry once said, “If we had 11 players on the field who played as hard as Bill Bates does and did their homework like he does, we’d be almost impossible to beat.""

If Coach Landry felt that way I'll just go with this answer for $200, Alex !

 

[gtb1943]

Pugh is definitely one that never got his due.
but once again playing before sacks were an official stat and got lots of attention says it all
Nowadays a DT getting those stats would be looking at a Yellow Jacket easily

Day Nguyen is my favorite under rated player

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

The stupid reasoning from the NFL is that they only officially started tracking sacks as a stat around 1982 or so. But we have game films going back to the late 1960s. Stats geeks could easily compile all the sack totals from the 1970s. They pretty much already have.

Other sports have recognized previously unknown stats with the advent of the same aforementioned stats geeks watching old films. I think Nolan Ryan regained the record for fastest pitch as a result, but I might be recalling that wrong in the moment.

Yeah they have enough man power and technology I just don’t get it. Think they want to protect legacies of certain guys. Didn’t elevated to me.

 

[Aerolithe_Lion]

Harvey Martin certainly deserves some notable recognition. Underrated by the NFL or he'd hold the season record for sacks.

My choice would be Bill Bates. "Tom Landry once said, “If we had 11 players on the field who played as hard as Bill Bates does and did their homework like he does, we’d be almost impossible to beat.""

If Coach Landry felt that way I'll just go with this answer for $200, Alex !

Pro Football Reference actually went back and counted all the unofficial sacks back to 1960. Harvey’s biggest season was 20

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Dak Prescott

 

[Creeper]

Lee Roy Jordan. I know he got a lot of acclaim in his day and after, but he is not in the HoF and he should be. IMO, he was better than Chuck Howley.

 

[MarcusRock]

Pro Football Reference actually went back and counted all the unofficial sacks back to 1960. Harvey’s biggest season was 20

Right. I believe Al Baker would have had the record if they counted sacks back then and he did it as a rookie with 23. Reggie White's dominant '87 season would have been the one if he'd played all 16 games but he still got 21 in 12 games. Still the most dominant season I've ever seen out of a pass rusher.

 

[MarcusRock]

Gonna throw Jim Jeffcoat in the thread. Double digit sacks 5 times and although he came to not start for Jimmy's teams I was so happy he got a ring before he detected to the enemy Buffalo, lol.

 

[gtb1943]

Lee Roy Jordan. I know he got a lot of acclaim in his day and after, but he is not in the HoF and he should be. IMO, he was better than Chuck Howley.

Howley made plays more than Jordan did.
Jordan was really unfortunate as he played MLB in the same era basically as all of the greatest did. Butkus, Lanier, Nobis, Curtis; Lambert was starting as well.
Hard to shine when there are so many great ones playing when you do

 

[DallasDW00ds0n]

James Washington was pretty underrated