Prior to Sunday night's season opener against the New York Jets, the Cowboys depth chart released to the NFL said veteran linebacker Keith Brooking would be the starter alongside Bradie James at inside linebacker.
Oops.
Instead, second-year linebacker Sean Lee out of Penn State (or Linebacker U) was inserted into the starting lineup leaving the aging Brooking and James to rotate in at the other inside backer position.
Lee did not disappoint.
Despite everything else that went wrong with the Cowboys — the Romo meltdown, the historic fourth-quarter meltdown, the special teams meltdown, the Dez Bryant power-down — Lee looked fantastic and without a doubt solidified his spot as a defensive starter.
Lee finished the night with 11 tackles, nine of which were solo, a key fumble recovery and an even bigger interception of Mark Sanchez that he took back to the 1-yard line.
Of course, Lee played the PC game and said he's one of three starters at the position, but if Sunday night is any indication (it is just one game, after all), he's head and shoulders above the other two.
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"We have three starters," Lee told ESPNDallas. "If one of the guys is in the game, we're all in there. I'm still learning and I'm going to lean on [Bradie James] and Brooking a lot."
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