Welcome back to the Cowboys jersey-number series, and this stop brings us to No. 66 - a number with a short list and a clear winner.
There are a few familiar names in the mix, including four-time Pro Bowl defensive end Jay Ratliff, but he wore No. 66 only as a rookie in 2005 before moving to No. 90.
That makes him an interesting footnote, not a real contender for the top spot. The runner-up honor goes to Kevin Gogan, a rugged, versatile lineman who played guard and tackle, started 75 of his 103 games with Dallas, and spent seven seasons with the club from 1987 to 1993.
His final two years in Dallas ended with a Lombardi Trophy.
Still, this one was never much of a debate. The best Cowboys player to wear No. 66 is defensive end George Andrie.
Andrie’s path to Dallas started at Marquette, where he put together a strong college career. He led the team in receiving yards from the slotback spot in both 1959 and 1960, his sophomore and junior seasons, and he also ranked among the team’s tackle leaders on defense at end.
Before his senior year, Marquette shut down the football program. Andrie considered transferring to Tulsa, but instead stayed on campus to finish his degree and kept himself in shape in case football came calling.
It did - from two different leagues. Dallas selected him in the sixth round of the 1962 NFL Draft with the 82nd overall pick, and the San Diego Chargers took him in the 12th round of the 1962 AFL Draft at No. 96 overall.
Andrie chose the Cowboys, then a franchise just three seasons old, and immediately made his presence felt. He won the starting job at right defensive end and posted 7.0 sacks as a rookie, enough to earn All-Rookie Team honors.
Tom Landry shifted him to the left side in 1964, and Andrie responded with a then-career-high 12.5 sacks. By 1965, he was back on the right side next to Bob Lilly, and from there his career, the Doomsday Defense, and the Cowboys themselves kept climbing.
That five-year stretch from 1965 through 1969 brought Andrie five straight Pro Bowl selections and a Second-Team All-Pro nod in 1967. He also showed up in the biggest games. In the 1967 NFL Championship Game - the second straight postseason meeting with Green Bay and the one remembered as the Ice Bowl - Andrie recovered a Bart Starr fumble in the second quarter and put Dallas on the board.
The Cowboys lost that game, but Andrie kept delivering in pressure moments. In Dallas’ first Super Bowl appearance, closing out the 1970 season, he delivered a hit on Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas so hard that Unitas had to leave the game, though the Cowboys still fell 16-13.
The following year, in the NFC Championship Game against San Francisco, Andrie intercepted John Brodie in the second quarter and returned it to the 49ers’ 2-yard line, setting up a Calvin Hill touchdown that became the winning score in a 14-3 Dallas victory. That win sent the Cowboys to Super Bowl 6, where they beat the Miami Dolphins 24-3 for the first title in franchise history.
Andrie’s final season was cut short. He played just three games in 1972 and retired after that year because of back problems. When he finished, he had 98.5 sacks in 11 seasons with Dallas - the most in franchise history at the time, and still the fifth-most ever for the Cowboys.
Some of the other names from that original Doomsday Defense may get more attention overall, but Andrie was a huge part of the foundation. For No. 66, he’s the obvious pick.
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His peak came with five straight Pro Bowl nods from 2006 through 2010, the kind of run that tends to fade from memory unless you followed the team closely at the time. Gurode went on to brief stops with other NFL teams before eventually circling back to Dallas in 2019 as a defensive assistant coach, a reminder that some of the best Cowboys connections are the ones fans dont always think about first. [Read more 🡒]