My colleague Mario Herrera Jr. discussed this year’s dreadful snubbing of three of the Cowboys’ stars for this year’s end-of-season awards.
DaRon Bland, Micah Parsons, and Dak Prescott were in the running for some of the league’s regular season honors. Of the three, Bland got the worst of it.
Leading the league in interceptions and setting a new NFL record for Pick Sixes is all Bland did this year. For that, he got nothing.
Worse still, he only received one first place vote for Defensive Player of the Year. Frankly, I think he should have won it outright.
Adding insult to injury, Darren Woodson was snubbed for the Hall of Fame despite being a finalist for the second straight year.
The Cowboys’ all-time leading tackler still has four more years of eligibility, so he still has a chance. But looking at his 12-year resume one begs a question:
What the heck does the guy lack on that resume?
Three-time champion, four-time, first team all-pro, and a five-time Pro Bowler. Oh, and he’s been in the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor for nearly a decade now.
It has been two decades since Woodson last played in the NFL.
I mean, come on man, put the man in Canton where he belongs already.
Adding further insult to injury, Patrick Willis was voted in this year ahead of Woodson. Willis play eight seasons – and only six games in his final year at that.
Woodson’s numbers are slightly better – and, oh by the way – Willis has zero rings.
Sadly though, longtime Cowboys’ fans have come to expect these snubs. They’ve been happening for decades.
Past Snubbery Abounds
I don’t know if “snubbery” is a word that would be recognized in a game of Scrabble, but boy does it apply here.
There are currently 32 players in the Hall of Fame that wore the Cowboys’ jersey during their playing careers. Some longer than others.
- Herb Adderley
- Troy Aikman
- Larry Allen
- Lance Alworth
- Gil Brandt
- Harold Carmichael
- Mike Ditka
- Tony Dorsett
- Forrest Gregg
- Charles Haley
- Cliff Harris
- Bob Hayes
- Chuck Howley
- Michael Irvin
- Jimmy Johnson
- Jerry Jones
- Tom Landry
- Bob Lilly
- Tommy McDonald
- Terrell Owens
- Bill Parcells
- Drew Pearson
- Mel Renfro
- Deion Sanders
- Tex Schramm
- Jackie Smith
- Emmitt Smith
- Roger Staubach
- Zach Thomas
- DeMarcus Ware
- Randy White
- Rayfield Wright
Woodson should have been No. 33. But honestly, there should be a few more than 32 in there already.
Even some of the players in the list above should have gotten in there much earlier.
It took 34 years after he played his last game in 1975 – and seven years after his death at the age of 59 – for the Hall to come calling for Bob Hayes.
Given his impact on the game in the 1960s that’s downright criminal. They had to change the rules when he came into the league.
No defensive back in the league could cover him without holding on for dear life and making Hayes drag the defender downfield with him.
It took 38 years after his last game for the Hall to welcome Drew Pearson. At least they had the decency to let him enjoy the day in person instead of from the afterlife.
There are three notable Cowboys of yesteryears gone by that are still waiting for the call.
Among The Missing
Among the many missing Cowboys in the Hall, three stand out.
Don Perkins is a member of the Cowboys Ring of Honor. He too should have a place in the Hall.
His crime was playing for the Cowboys in the 1960s – most of his career played before the team started playing for the NFL Championship.
The numbers Perkins was able to put up despite playing for a franchise going through growing pains were impressive.
He should be in but he’ll likely never get there.
LeeRoy Jordan was a five-time Pro Bowler with one Super Bowl ring to his credit.
As a middle linebacker for most of his 14-year career he was a great player. He was named the starting middle linebacker in Dallas to start the 1966 season.
He started the next 154 consecutive regular season games for the Cowboys.
He also added 32 interceptions – scoring three touchdowns – and 19.5 sacks. Far better numbers than Patrick Willis.
One might also make the case for the Cowboys’ original owner – Clint Murchinson Jr. – needing to be added to the Hall.
Without Murchinson – and some wheeling and dealing both over and under the table – there would be no Dallas Cowboys.
Murchinson knocked down the reluctance of the NFL owners of the time against putting an NFL team in the South. Without his efforts there wouldn’t be a New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons in the 1960s either.
Why The Snubbing?
So why the hate? Part of it is resentment that dates all the way back to the aftermath of that dark day in Dallas in late November 1963.
The first game Dallas played after the Kennedy assassination was on the road.
The public address announcer refused to say the name “Dallas.” He introduced the team as simply “the Cowboys.”
No sooner had that hatred of Dallas faded a decade later, the Cowboys were labeled “America’s Team” by an NFL Films’ editor and the nickname stuck.
Ever since – as evidenced as recently as just a few weeks ago by Bob Costas – many members of the media have twisted themselves into knots to take that nickname away from the Cowboys.
The people who vote for the Hall – and the post-season awards – have a long and storied history of snubbing Cowboys’ players whenever possible.
Their bias is unfair. But until a better system is created, it’s a bias that Cowboys’ players – and their fans – will have to live with.
At least we’ll always have the Ring of Honor.