Cowboys Newcomer Thought Larry Allen Meant ‘I Can’t Play In NFL’

Marcus Spears was a good NFL player. But the legendary Dallas Cowboys O-lineman Larry Allen was… Something else

FRISCO - I can tell you stories about interviewing Larry Allen; the soft-spoken legend was amused when I once wrote that the only time he wanted to use his mouth was to eat.

I can tell you stories that are a bit more off-color, like the time Larry pulled into the old "White House'' and asked an "attendant'' to clean the inside of his luxury vehicle. And when the "attendant'' found $100 bills stuck to the floor of the car, covered in gooey half-dried tobacco spit, Larry said, "You clean 'em, you can have 'em.''

But you have to be Marcus Spears to tell this story.

Spears, the former Cowboys defensive lineman and current ESPN analyst, joined Chris Long on his Green Light Podcast, and told the tale of opposing the great story about opposing the future Hall-of-Famer Allen as a rookie in practice.

Spears' task in this early workout: taking on a Larry Allen/Flozell Adams double-team.

How poorly did this break down for Spears? How stunned was he by the encounter?

If this is how the NFL is going to be on Sundays, Spears told the head coach who'd just drafted him, Bill Parcells, “I can’t play in this league.”

Spears, of course, went on to have a fine NFL career. ... because no, not every NFL offensive lineman could perform like Larry Allen.

In fact, in my estimation after covering the NFL for almost 40 years now? Larry Allen, soft-spoken tobacco-chewer, played at such a high level that maybe nobody could perform like him.

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