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By Richie Whitt
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It's one thing that the Dallas Cowboys haven't been to an NFC Championship Game in 30 years. It's another – perhaps even more painful – that their former players are making a habit of leaving town and then playing for a Super Bowl.
Cowboys fans will see a familiar defensive end when the Seahawks host the Rams on Sunday night with a Super Bowl LX berth at stake.
Then: DeMarcus Ware. Now: DeMarcus Lawrence.
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In 2005, the Cowboys drafted Ware out of small-school Troy. For nine seasons, he toiled as the best defensive player on bad teams. An athletic, ferocious pass-rusher, he made All-Pro four times and went to the Pro Bowl seven consecutive years. Despite playing with the likes of Tony Romo and Terrell Owens and being coached by Bill Parcells, Ware won only one playoff game and went 0-2 in the Divisional Round in Dallas.
After the 2013 season, he was cut by owner/general manager Jerry Jones in a cost-cutting measure, and signed the next day by the Denver Broncos. Two seasons later he helped them win Super Bowl L, and in 2023 was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
After the Seahawks pummeled the San Francisco 49ers in last weekend's Divisional Round, the double-DeMarcus similarities are unavoidable.
In 2014 the Cowboys drafted Lawrence out of small-school Boise State. In 11 seasons he made four Pro Bowls but in the playoffs went 0-4 in the Divisional Round, never even really sniffing a Super Bowl.
As a free agent after the 2024 season, he decided to leave Dallas in pursuit of a ring with the Seahawks.
"Change of scenery is always good," Lawrence said last spring. "My home is Dallas, but I know for sure I'm not going to win a Super Bowl there. So, yeah…we're here."
In the win over the 49ers, Lawrence had a strip-sack of Brock Purdy that sealed the deal. This season he produced six sacks, two fumble returns for touchdowns and made the Pro Bowl.
And now – like Ware before him – he's closer to a Super Bowl than at any time in Dallas. Ring of Honor with the Cowboys; Super Bowl ring elsewhere.
Ouch, indeed.
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