Fitzgerald's Shotgun Legacy: Cowboys' Offensive Line Icon

0:00On April 15, John Fitzgerald, the hard beat of the Dallas Cowboys offense in the 1970s, has passed away at age 77. He snapped the ball on almost every play during the rise to glory under Tom Landry, angering the line from 1971 to 1980. Fitzgerald suited up for 137 regular season games with 109 starts, plus 19 playoff appearances and 13. Postseason starts. The Cowboys hit four Super Bowls in that decade, winning two, and never posted a losing record while he was on the roster. Drafted in the fourth round at a Boston College, he started on the defensive line before shifting to offense as a guard, then settling in at center. Landry revived the shotgun formation for Roger Staubach in 1975, and Fitzgerald mastered those long, precise snaps without looking. Back. His work made the shotgun a leak staple, boosting the center's value, and kicking off Dallas's tradition of elite guys like Tom Rafferty, Mark, Stepnowski, Andrei Gerod, and Travis

1:02Frederick. Thursday, Mark would have been his 78th birthday, but Fitzgerald snapped still echo in Cowboys history, keeping that offensive line, legacy snapping strong.