"I actually had [the number 33 jersey in my hands] for about 10 seconds and then I was thinking, ‘Nah, I’m an old-school football fan and I loved Tony Dorsett.’ I’ve met him a couple of times and his son. I just feel like that’s hallowed ground, so I just got right back in 23."

— Sammy Morris, newly minted Dallas Cowboy running back, who has worn the hallowed number 33 in the past. He’ll do well in Dallas, even if it is for a swan song of a season or two.

So long, Dandy Don Meredith:

Mr. Meredith showed up for the 1966 [NFL] title game with his face covered in stitches. He told everyone he’d been shopping with his wife, tripped, and went through a plate-glass window. He couldn’t play.

“You could’ve heard a pin drop,’’ [Dan] Reeves said. “Then coach Landry walked in and he peeled it off. It looked so real! He had a makeup artist put it on. We all wanted to choke him to death”

and

“I remember asking him once, ‘Why do they call you Dandy?’ ” [Steve] Sabol said. “And he just said, ‘Because I am.’ “