Cowboys of the north: Canadian connections abound on 'America's Team'

FILE - In this Nov. 23, 2017, file photo, Dallas Cowboys defensive end Tyrone Crawford (98) faces off against Los Angeles Chargers offensive tackle Russell Okung (76) during an NFL football game in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Sarah Warnock, File)

They're called America's Team, but the Dallas Cowboys will have a more definite Canadian flavour this season.

Long-snapper Louis-Philippe Ladouceur of Montreal and defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford of Windsor, Ont., both return for yet another NFL campaign with Dallas. Also, former CFL player Brett Maher opens the season as the Cowboys' kicker after surprisingly unseating incumbent Dan Bailey, the second-most accurate kicker in league history.

Ladouceur, 37, has been a model of consistency with Dallas. Entering his 14th season, the six-foot-six, 256-pound Canadian is not only the Cowboys' longest-tenured player but hasn't missed a game in his pro career.

When Dallas kicks off its 2018 season in Carolina next Sunday, Ladouceur will start his 206th straight contest. And through it all, he's been perfect on 1,875 career snaps on punts, converts and field goals.

He flawlessly executed 142 snaps last season (66 on punts, 38 on field goals, 38 converts). Heady stuff for a player who joined the Cowboys following the third week of the '05 season after being released by the New Orleans Saints.

The six-foot-four, 285-pound Crawford enters his seventh season with Dallas after being taken in the third round, No, 81 overall, in the 2012 NFL draft out of Boise State. Crawford, 28, has started 59 of 77 regular-season games with the Cowboys, registering 143 tackles, 16.5 sacks and two forced fumbles.

Last season, Crawford played in all 16 regular-season games -- for the second time in three years -- and had 27 tackles and four sacks.

Maher, 28, of Kearney, Neb., hit 107 of 137 field goals (78.1 per cent) with the Ottawa Redblacks (2014-15, 2017) and Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2016). The six-foot-one, 183-pound Maher played collegiately at Nebraska.

Ironically, Maher signed with Dallas in August 2013 to play in an exhibition game while Bailey recovered from an injury. Maher was released two weeks later.

Maher joined the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in May 2014 and appeared in two exhibition games before being released. The following week he signed with the Redblacks and finished the season making 25 of 37 field goals (67.6 per cent) and posting a 45.4-yard punting average.

Ladouceur and Crawford are among 12 Canadians to start the season on an NFL team's 53-man roster. That's half the number of Canucks who were on training-camp rosters back in July.

Right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif of Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que., begins his fifth season with Kansas City. The former McGill star enters the second year of the US$41.25-million extension he signed with the Chiefs that made him the highest-paid Canadian football player in NFL history.

The 2014 sixth-round draft pick made headlines in May when he graduated from medical school. That made Duvernay-Tardif the first active NFL player to become a physician.

Other Canadians on NFL rosters include: