Tag: Larry Cole

Cowboys News: How Quinn’s scheme fits, who stays among DBs

In the latest Cowboys news and notes, what to expect from newly signed DC Dan Quinn, and who should Dallas re-sign this year, and more.

The Dallas Cowboys offseason began just two weeks ago, but the club is already moving quickly. This week the team finalized a deal to make former Atlanta head coach Dan Quinn their defensive coordinator, replacing Mike Nolan after just one season. Quinn has been apart of many successful defenses in the past, and he’ll look to improve a Dallas defense that was one of the worst in the league a year ago. Learn more about what schemes Quinn may implement, and how Quinn’s preferences could impact the defensive personnel the Cowboys choose to acquire.

Speaking of the Dallas defense, a number of key contributors are set to become free agents this offseason, especially in the secondary. Who should the Cowboys be most interested in keeping out of the trio of Xavier Woods, Chidobe Awuzie, and Jourdan Lewis? Find out the latest on Jaylon Smith’s recent surgery. Plus a Cowboys history lesson that the average fan hasn’t heard before.

Zero Club: Cowboys’ Larry Cole wanted no publicity, but his talent refused to cooperate

Fifty years after eschewing publicity as part of Dallas’s Doomsday defense, Larry Cole remains a beloved fixture for Cowboys fans.

Start ranking the most popular and best-known Cowboys players of all time, and it will take a while to get to him. His name isn’t hanging in the team’s Ring of Honor. He’s not instantly recognizable as a go-to media-darling representative of his era’s contributions to the sport. On his own thoroughly dominant teams, he was usually overshadowed by bigger stars with flashier nicknames. In the most famous photograph he appears in, his face isn’t even visible, the lens focused instead on a guy who wasn’t supposed to be there. For thirteen seasons, five Super Bowl appearances, and two world championships, he was practically anonymous.

That’s exactly how Larry Cole wanted it.

He and two of his defensive teammates formed the “Zero Club,” as in: zero attention. During the height of the Doomsday Defense of the 1970s, the Zero Club prided itself on wrecking games on Sundays, but staying decidedly out of the spotlight off the field. Their first commandment? “Thou Shalt Not Seek Publicity.”

But the story of Cole’s remarkable playing career transcended any attempt to stay under the radar.