Sabin: Why linebackers Sean Lee, Rolando McClain are more alike than they seem

Cotton

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Sabin: Why Cowboys linebackers Sean Lee, Rolando McClain are more alike than they seem

By RAINER SABIN

OXNARD, Calif. — At first glance, Sean Lee and Rolando McClain would seem to have nothing in common. Lee resembles a Boy Scout. He’s been lauded for his exceptional work ethic and dedication to his craft. He’s been identified as a leader.

McClain, in contrast, has earned a reputation for dysfunctional behavior. He’s been arrested three times, retired twice and is suspended the first four games for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. He’s anything but a model example.

Together, they are the Cowboys’ odd couple at linebacker — a combination of impact defenders that invites intrigue even though they have yet to practice or appear in a game together.

“With the way [McClain] played last year and the intensity he played with in games, it would be great to have him on that field playing that way and playing with him,” Lee said.

But for now it remains just a dream. At the outset of training camp, McClain is stationed on the physically unable to perform list as he continues to recover from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, which bothered him throughout last season when he was in the process of resurrecting his career.

“I was pretty injured,” he said.

But he was in a better place mentally than he had been. In July 2014, the Cowboys rescued McClain from football oblivion because Lee’s fate for that season had already been sealed. In the first organized team activity, Lee tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. It was the latest — and most significant — injury for a player whose body had consistently betrayed him since his college days.

Fourteen months after it happened, Lee is back on the field. He’s now a weakside linebacker, moving over to accommodate McClain, who re-signed with the Cowboys in April after he finished with 108 tackles last season. But like McClain, Lee has yet to take part in competitive drills.

Even so, Lee and McClain are generating a buzz louder than the murmurs surrounding their teammates. Coach Jason Garrett understands why that is.

“They’re both really good football players,” he said. “They have different strengths. But I think the one thing they definitely have in common is that football instinct and that awareness of the game and that ability to play fast because they’re so instinctive.”

It’s the football intelligence that McClain and Lee share that has created excitement within the Cowboys organization. The executives and Garrett’s staff see two players with the potential to wreak havoc because they have a firm understanding of defensive concepts, a knack for diagnosing plays and the athleticism to make stops. Linebackers coach Matt Eberflus is among those fascinated by the pairing. In 2010, when he held the same position with the Cleveland Browns, he scouted both before the NFL Draft. In separate visits with Lee and McClain, Eberflus administered a 40-question aptitude test.

“And this son of a gun is hard now,” he said. “You have to know your calls and what the adjustments are for each defense.”

But Lee nearly aced it. He scored a 39 out of 40.

And McClain?

“He missed one question, too,” Eberflus said. “Those guys are very intelligent, and they’re good guys and they’re really good players. ... Their football IQ is off the charts.”

But smarts will help only so much. In the NFL, showing up matters even more. But Lee and McClain have histories of being unavailable.

McClain retired twice and has yet to play an entire season since entering the league in 2010. Over the course of his abbreviated career, 26 weeks have been spent on the injury report as he’s dealt with multiple concussions and an illness while hurting his shoulder, groin, ankle, toe, foot and knee.

Lee’s medical history is worse. He’s missed 34 games in five seasons — suffering everything from a shredded ACL and a strained hamstring to torn ligaments in his neck and right big toe.

Just get them to the field, and the possibilities seem endless. Despite all the time he’s missed, Lee still is tied for the lead among active linebackers in interceptions the last five seasons. McClain, even as he dealt with the lingering knee injury and played only 13 regular-season games in 2014, still topped the team in tackles for loss.

Now, McClain is eagerly looking forward to taking the field with Lee beside him.

“I think about it all of the time,” he said. “All of the time.”

And what does he envision?

“Y’all will have to wait and see,” he said with a sly grin. “But it will be fun.”
 

Genghis Khan

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Ebony and fuckin ivory


Stevie Wonder: "I am dark, and you are light."

Frank Sinatra: "You are blind as a bat, and I have sight!
Side by side, you are my amigo,
Negro, let's not fiiiiiiiight!"
 

Jiggyfly

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Stevie Wonder: "I am dark, and you are light."

Frank Sinatra: "You are blind as a bat, and I have sight!
Side by side, you are my amigo,
Negro, let's not fiiiiiiiight!"
One of the greatest skits in SNL history.:lol
 

Plan9Misfit

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Stevie Wonder: "I am dark, and you are light."

Frank Sinatra: "You are blind as a bat, and I have sight!
Side by side, you are my amigo,
Negro, let's not fiiiiiiiight!"
 

GForce78NJ

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Apr 8, 2013
Messages
1,301
1 if not both of these guys will miss substantial time. It's science.

This Rah-Rah article gets me pumped up just as much as the next guy, however you will see a lot of Kyle Wilber on the outside instead this season. Just how things go
 
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