Who was the greatest Cowboys' Left Tackle Ever?

[BAT]

Reason I ask is I was looking at the Cowboys Top 50 All-Time list and noticed that Neely was ranked so low, behind even Pat Donovan.


If anything if Neely is not number one, he is second only to Tuinei who is extremely underrated IMO. And Flo may have all the pro bowls, but I cannot place him above either Neely or Tui. Maybe not even over Donovan.


The clincher is that Neely is the only Cowboys LT to make an all-decades team, that is how much he was respected.

 

[Four]

I don't mean this in a rude way at all, but when you older fans talk about players I always feel left out.

I wonder if I will be talking about jason witten and demarcus ware in 20 years and people will be wondering who I am talking about...

When did neely and donovan play?

 

[BAT]

I don't mean this in a rude way at all, but when you older fans talk about players I always feel left out.

I wonder if I will be talking about jason witten and demarcus ware in 20 years and people will be wondering who I am talking about...

When did neely and donovan play?

LOL. I was really too young to pay attention to either Neely (60's) or Donovan (70's) play, but I have been a Cowboys fan for a while nevertheless and most of my "education" has come via second hand sources (e.g. articles, interviews, clips, etc.).


Do you remember Tuinei? The most underrated OLineman on the 90's dynasty team, and he was there from the beginning to the end. Only Nate Newton can claim that. IMO he was more deserving of pro bowls than Nate, Tui had to block some of the best that ever played: from Lawrence Taylor to Clyde Simmons to Bruce Smith.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Flo.



No wait, Tui.

 

[Four]

LOL. I was really too young to pay attention to either Neely (60's) or Donovan (70's) play, but I have been a Cowboys fan for a while nevertheless and most of my "education" has come via second hand sources (e.g. articles, interviews, clips, etc.).


Do you remember Tuinei? The most underrated OLineman on the 90's dynasty team, and he was there from the beginning to the end. Only Nate Newton can claim that. IMO he was more deserving of pro bowls than Nate, Tui had to block some of the best that ever played: from Lawrence Taylor to Clyde Simmons to Bruce Smith.

I actually went to high school with Tui's daughter or his neice, I don't remember which, but yes I remember him well. He was very good, and a tough SOB to boot.

was sad when he died, he was too young, but too old to have been messing with that stuff.

 

[AdamJT13]

1. Adams
2. Donovan
3. Neely
4. Tuinei

 

[BAT]

I actually went to high school with Tui's daughter or his neice, I don't remember which, but yes I remember him well. He was very good, and a tough SOB to boot.

was sad when he died, he was too young, but too old to have been messing with that stuff.

Agreed. Was a tough tough guy, but a really nice guy too. Ran into him a few times when I was in college, he used to come around a bar near my university in the offseason. I asked him about Skip Bayless once, he gave me an evil grin and said he was a p**ck who pushed his luck. Laughed a lot, and drank even more. But who could blame him, everyone bought him a round.

Would never have thought he was an ecstasy user though. I knew a few guys who abused the stuff and they looked like hell.

 

[THUMPER]

1. Adams
2. Donovan
3. Neely
4. Tuinei

Interesting, why Flozell #1? Just curious to know why you picked him.

To me they are all pretty close so you could rank them any way you wanted and it would probably not be far off.

 

[UnoDallas]

Tuinei

Erik Williams

Williams was a four time Pro Bowler attending the game in 1993, 1996, 1997, and 1999. His ability to protect quarterback Troy Aikman and to run-block for running back Emmitt Smith helped the Cowboys win Super Bowls in 1993, 1994, and 1996. "Big E," was one of the few Tackles to consistently play Hall of Fame defensive end Reggie White to a standoff

 

[Four]

Big E played on the right side

 

[AdamJT13]

Interesting, why Flozell #1? Just curious to know why you picked him.

To me they are all pretty close so you could rank them any way you wanted and it would probably not be far off.

Adams has been our left tackle for 10 seasons and has made five Pro Bowls. None of the others were our outright starter at left tackle for as long or made as many Pro Bowls as a left tackle.

 

[UnoDallas]

Big E played on the right side

yea I know

but think he could have been a hell LT he was just mean

 

[THUMPER]

Adams has been our left tackle for 10 seasons and has made five Pro Bowls. None of the others were our outright starter at left tackle for as long or made as many Pro Bowls as a left tackle.

It's amazing to me that he gets so much flak from the fans even though he has been very good for us for a long time. The false starts are a problem of course but otherwise he has been very good against some of the better pass-rushers over the last 10 seasons.

In thinking about the 4 LTs in the list I found it difficult to rank them with any certainty. I liked all 4 and they were all very good players for us.

 

[rathalarge]

Pat Donovan, followed by Tuinei, IMO! This is a tough question. However, if Super Bowl titles are the thing, then Tui is #1!!

 

[Hostile]

Ralph Neely was a 2 time Pro Bowl OT.

Pat Donovan was a 4 time Pro Bowl OT.

Flozell Adams is a 5 time Pro Bowl OT

Mark Tuinei was a 2 time Pro Bowl OT.

Personally, I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. I might take Tuinei over any just because of how nasty he was.

 

[burmafrd]

always give an edge to the nasty guys.

 

[DallasDomination]

If Flo is the best LT We have EVER had then that's not a good thing lol...

 

[jday]

Agreed. Was a tough tough guy, but a really nice guy too. Ran into him a few times when I was in college, he used to come around a bar near my university in the offseason. I asked him about Skip Bayless once, he gave me an evil grin and said he was a p**ck who pushed his luck. Laughed a lot, and drank even more. But who could blame him, everyone bought him a round.

Would never have thought he was an ecstasy user though. I knew a few guys who abused the stuff and they looked like hell.

Just so there is no further confusion:

In May 1999, Tuinei was found unconscious in his car and pronounced dead upon arrival at a hospital in the Dallas suburb of Plano. He had been planning to return to Punahou School as offensive line coach. The autopsy revealed that Tuinei died of a lethal combination of heroin and a form of the drug ecstasy. His death was ruled an accident. Upon the release of the autopsy, Plano police chief Bruce Glasscock was quoted as saying that it was Tuinei's first experience with heroin. Glasscock did not elaborate how that determination was made.

"What you had was a 39-year-old male, 6'5", in excess of 300 pounds, a healthy individual, took one shot of heroin and basically dropped dead as a result," Glasscock said during his press conference regarding Tuinei.

The four individuals who worked for the drug ring that provided Tuinei with the lethal dose of heroin were later sentenced in Sherman, Texas. Julian Solis Perez and Andres Milan were sentenced to eleven-year prison terms and Favian Ramos a twelve-year sentence. Jesus Carbajal received a life sentence. The men were charged, tried and convicted for conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine.

 

[bbgun]

The Pro Bowl has become incredibly devalued in recent years (see: RW31), so I'm not sure that's a point in Flo's favor. Also, we should not include the times he went to Hawaii as a mere injury replacement. Seeing as how the o-line is not a stat-driven position, the only people who can answer this question with any degree of certainty/honesty are those who are old enough to have seen all four men play.

 

[AbeBeta]

i'm less inclined to use probowls as an indicator. we are on TV a lot which means that our guys get a real boost in voting. Plus, players are increasingly likely to skip the probowl, necessitating tons of injury replacement. Flo may have been in the Probowl 5 times but how many of those were as an injury replacement? Three, I think.

That said, I'd take Tui. He was nasty but even better, he was smart, and most importantly, you never needed to worry about motivating the guy. If Flo had Tui's drive, he'd be one of the best LTs in the game.