Best NFL Players of All Time: Bob Lilly. Ranking the Top Players in History. Place a bet on an NFL football game now.

Best NFL Players of All Time: Bob Lilly

Records show that the Dallas Cowboys started to become known as “America’s Team” during the 1966 season. That season, they were 10-3-1 in the NFL, winning the Eastern Conference and earning a spot in the NFL Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay went to Dallas and defeated the Cowboys 34–27 in a game that finally came down to a Packers interception of Don Meredith in their own end zone.

Even though the Cowboys’ offense featured a lot of well-known players like Dan Reeves, Bob Hayes, and Meredith, the defense made it possible for Dallas to transcend from being a lowly expansion team to a title contender. The star player on that defense was defensive tackle Bob Lilly, but head coach Tom Landry was the architect of the scheme.

Landry had created a defense in the 1960s since the NFL was mostly a rushing league. Landry’s Flex defense shifted two defensive linemen off the line of scrimmage and back a few feet to have a better pursuit angle on running backs. The person who made the most use of the angle and the additional space was Bob Lilly.

While it’s true that Landry invented the Flex, back in the 1950s, when both players were with the New York Giants, Vince Lombardi gave him defensive coaching assistance. While Landry played defensive back and later joined New York as an assistant coach, Lombardi assisted Jim Lee Howell as a coach.

The two had frequent conversations. While Lombardi presented his observations about the defensive formations he thought were troublesome, Landry told him which offensive strategies he thought were the core of the defense’s problems. It’s worth noting that the delicate Lombardi would likely grow pretty agitated if the Giants defense practiced against his offensive team.

Landry knew the Flex was a powerful formation, but it needed the right personnel to be effective. It was significant that the Cowboys selected Texas Christian University’s Lilly in the first round of the 1961 draft. With her size, strength, and incredible quickness, Lilly seemed like a truly unique defensive end who could give the Cowboys the defensive push they needed.

Lilly played defensive end his first three seasons, but before the 1964 campaign started, Landry felt that a transfer inside to tackle would provide the much-needed boost to the Flex defense. Before the Green Bay Packers and Denver Broncos met in Super Bowl XXXII in January 1998, Landry remembered that “Bob had all the characteristics you want in a defensive lineman.” Despite his selection as a defensive end, his quickness, power, intellect, and agility showed that he might be a big player at tackle. He could get closer to the action and take better angles to the ball with the Flex.

Furthermore, even though we were positive it would work before proceeding, it

executed even more effectively. Due to his superior intelligence and perceptiveness, Bob was able to neutralize most plays and gain an advantage. It’s hard to say how one improves upon Bob Lilly, but having great players was a major factor in the defense’s effectiveness.

Naturally, Landry was a tough leader and reticent to give credit during his long tenure on the bench. But Lilly never lost sight of the fact that he was doing his job and getting help from perhaps the toughest coach of his day.

Lilly made eleven Pro Bowl selections and seven NFL all-star teams. He became the first Cowboy player to be inducted into the Texas Stadium Ring of Honor and into the Hall of Fame in 1980, his first year of eligibility. He made one of the most memorable plays in the history of the game when he sacked Miami Dolphins quarterback Bob Griese for a 29-yard loss in Super Bowl VI. 94.5 unofficial sacks (sacks were not officially tabulated until 1982) was his career total at the end.

That 24–3 Cowboy triumph was the game that Lilly will remember the most from her Cowboys career. You remember, Lilly said, that we lost the Super Bowl the year before [16–13 to the Baltimore Colts], and it was a terribly bad experience. All eyes were on the Cowboys to lose the big game. However, our triumph over Miami demonstrated that we were a strong team deserving of the title. We no longer have that monkey on our backs.

Joe Greene of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Merlin Olsen of the Los Angeles Rams were in the same league as Lilly. Greene was quicker and more nimble than Lilly, but Olsen was nearly as strong and prepared. However, Lilly was unmatched in consistency as no player had played in 196 straight games.

Two defensive lineman from today, Warren Sapp and John Randle, both played with penetration and passion, but they were not as strong as Lilly.

Landry said in 1972 that “a man like Lilly comes along once in a lifetime.” “In some ways, he is extraordinary. The finest of them all is Bob Lilly.

Lilly believes the Cowboys’ “Doomsday Defense” is past its prime and that it is highly unlikely to succeed against the league’s current competition, despite the fact that it was unrivaled in the late 1960s and early 1970s. “The primary goal of the Flex defense was to impede the run,” Lilly said. Teams were trying to run the ball at least 60% of the time when Coach Landry came up with the idea. If they hadn’t been trying to run the ball so often, it wouldn’t have succeeded. Teams now operate differently. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the game changed significantly into something else entirely.

Teams that rely solely on running the ball as their primary offensive weapon cannot win. While throwing is essential, you also need to be able to gain some form of balance and mix in the run. The primary goal of the Flex was to determine the best angles to halt the run. As time went on, this became less important.

But at that particular moment, it was vital, since Lilly beat the run in a way that very few others had.

Best NFL Players of All Time: Bob Lilly Stats

Regular Season

Year	Age	Tm	Pos	No.	G	GS	Int	Yds	TD	Lng	Fmb	FR	Yds	TD	Sk	AV
1961	22	DAL	LDE	74	14	14			0		0	1	0	0	5.5	6
1962	23	DAL	LDE	74	14	14			0		0	1	0	0	9	7
1963	24	DAL	LDE/RDT	74	14	14			0		0	1	42	1	5	7
1964	25	DAL	RDT	74	14	14			0		1	3	4	0	10.5	16
1965	26	DAL	RDT	74	14	14	1	17	1	17	0	2	41	0	8	12
1966	27	DAL	RDT	74	14	14			0		0	1	0	0	15	15
1967	28	DAL	RDT	74	14	14			0						6.5	12
1968	29	DAL	RDT	74	14	14			0		0	1	0	0	12.5	14
1969	30	DAL	RDT	74	14	14			0		0	2	9	1	5	13
1970	31	DAL	RDT	74	14	14			0						5.5	10
1971	32	DAL	RDT	74	14	14			0		0	1	7	1	5	12
1972	33	DAL	RDT	74	14	14			0		0	1	0	0	2.5	11
1973	34	DAL	RDT	74	14	14			0		0	2	6	0	4.5	11
1974	35	DAL	RDT	74	14	14			0		0	2	0	0	1	7
Career					196	196	1	17	1	17	1	18	109	3	95.5	153

Playoffs

Year	Age	Tm	Pos	G	GS	Int	Yds	TD	Lng	FF	Fmb	FR	Yds	TD	Sk
1966	27	DAL	RDT	1	1			0		0	0	0	0	0	0
1967	28	DAL	RDT	2	2			0		0	0	0	0	0	3
1968	29	DAL	RDT	1	1			0		0	0	0	0	0	0
1969	30	DAL	RDT	1	1			0		0	0	0	0	0	0
1970	31	DAL	RDT	3	3			0		0	0	0	0	0	0.5
1971	32	DAL	RDT	3	3			0		0	0	0	0	0	2
1972	33	DAL	RDT	2	2			0		0	0	0	0	0	0
1973	34	DAL	RDT	1	1			0		0	0	0	0	0	0
Career				14	14			0						0	5.5

 

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