FRISCO, Texas -- There’s a reason why Sean Lee is Sean Lee.

It was on display last week in practice at The Star almost a week ago, but few people noticed. Maybe none of the fans in attendance noticed. Certainly some Dallas Cowboys teammates and coaches noticed.

During field goal drills, the offensive players who play special teams work on tackling drills. Considering they don’t do much tackling, the defensive coaches run them through drills in wrapping up, running through the tackle.

This missed tackle by Sean Lee against the Raiders' Jalen Richard led the linebacker to work diligently on his form at a recent practice. "All the fundamentals, you think you have them and you don't always," he said. Andrew Dieb/Icon Sportswire

But in the middle of the drill was Lee, the Cowboys’ All-Pro linebacker.

Normally when Dan Bailey is kicking, Lee is off to the side, catching his breath in one of his few breaks of practice.

But last Tuesday, Lee was breaking down and going in for a form tackle on a giant exercise ball the coaches use to teach tackling while not actually tackling.

“You know why I did that,” Lee said.

Late in the first quarter of the Cowboys’ preseason win against the Oakland Raiders, Lee missed a tackle of Jalen Richard on a second-down check down from Derek Carr that led to a 13-yard gain and a first down.

Lee played only 17 snaps in the preseason -- all against the Raiders. He was credited with three tackles in those 17 snaps, but it was the one missed stop that had him at practice three days later working on his tackling with the offensive players.

“Working on my game, constantly working on my game,” Lee said. “All the fundamentals, you think you have them and you don’t always. So you’ve got to constantly work on them to have them. You can’t expect that they’re there. They have to be ingrained in your subconscious so you’ve got to work on them nonstop to get there.”

Lee’s practice work was reminiscent of Jason Witten catching more passes early in the 2012 regular season during and after practices when he had an uncharacteristic number of drops. His preseason that year lasted fewer snaps than Lee’s this year because of a lacerated spleen.

By the end of the season, Witten set a record for tight ends with 110 catches on the season and was named to the Pro Bowl.

There are many parallels between Lee and Witten. They live for football. They not only want to know everything about their position but every other position on the field. They are driven to succeed with their natural gifts often overlooked by their intangibles.

A second-round pick in 2010, Lee said he learned quickly to watch Witten work in order to succeed and last in the NFL. Injuries were Lee’s biggest issues early in his career but in the past two seasons, he has played in 29 of 32 games and did not play in all 16 games a year ago because the coaches held him out of the meaningless season finale against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Still, Lee spent that entire game with his helmet on ready to play even if the coaches told him no. It’s kind of what he does. It’s why he researched what happened at Dunkirk before the team saw the movie this summer during training camp.

It’s also why he was taking part in a special-teams drill normally reserved for the offensive players.