Many of the NFL's top players grew up with a strong connection to the game of football behind their fandom of watching the league with many of the great talents that passed through the league. This was the case for Dallas Cowboys Pro Bowl linebacker Sean Lee.

The Cowboys star recently voiced that being a Pittsburgh native he was a huge fan of Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis that saw him become of his favorite players to use in the Madden video game, according to ESPN.

“Jerome Bettis. I loved how he ran the football. Loved how he worked. Growing up in Pittsburgh, that was a guy I looked up to.

“I'd line up in goal line in Madden in the mid-2000s and I would run goal line and I would run with [Bettis] the whole game. There's like a glitch in the game that he would get three or four runs in a row and he would get a first down. My brother would be so mad.”

During his heyday, Bettis was one of the league's best running back behind a bruising running style that best utilized his large frame earning him the nickname “The Bus” for how he played. This helped him put together eight campaigns with 1,000 rushing yards along with 91 rushing touchdowns over his 13-year career that saw him earn six Pro Bowl selections, two First-Team All-Pro nods, and a Second-Team All-Pro selection that was topped off by winning the Super Bowl in his final year.

At the time of his retirement, his 13,662 ranked fifth all-time in career rushing yards while his eight 1,000-plus rushing yard seasons was tied for third-best in NFL history. Bettis was a unique talent that had size and the shiftiness to his play that allowed him to put together an illustrious career and earn respect and recognition from his peers and fans alike.

There were likely many young fans like Lee that had that type of admiration for Bettis concerning what he was able to accomplish on the football field.