Anyone remember who wore 12 after Staubach?

[sonnyboy]

Does anyone wonder why Irvin's 88 never got the same treatment? The Triplets are all held in such high esteem and some believe Irvin was the catalyst for it all, but strangely his number has been quickly given to high round receivers since he left. It's more a tribute to the greatness of 88 in Cowboys lore than it is a tribute to Irvin or even Pearson.

Partly a numbers game......pun intended.

You have 5 WRs and 3 TEs on the 53 and they often have a number between 80-89. Not many options to start with, you start retiring numbers and it gets tight.

 

[Hardline]

Bet you never saw Bob Lilly play, did you? #74 is every bit as important as #12
:starspin

No I didn't see Lilly play other than video of him.
I am only 43 years old,Lilly was long retired before I got into Cowboy football .

My first memories of the Cowboys are around 1977 when they played the Broncos in the super bowl.

I do know Lilly was greatness.My dad has been a fan since the very beginning and has shared many great stories on the great players of the past.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

I kind of like the fact that Irvin's number is still in circulation. An argument could be made that the number should have been retired after Drew Pearson hung it up. 88 has become synonymous with two great Cowboys WRs. Hopefully, it's current bearer can add his own legacy.

I kinda like it too. I just noticed that Troy and Emmitt have sorta unofficially had their numbers retired, but not Irvin. It would take a really great QB to get #8 and a really great RB to get #22. Hopefully Dez is a really great receiver for a long time starting this season.

 

[D29Murray]

Does anyone wonder why Irvin's 88 never got the same treatment? The Triplets are all held in such high esteem and some believe Irvin was the catalyst for it all, but strangely his number has been quickly given to high round receivers since he left. It's more a tribute to the greatness of 88 in Cowboys lore than it is a tribute to Irvin or even Pearson.

Irvin gave his blessing for Bryant to wear it.

 

[Plankton]

Irvin gave his blessing for Bryant to wear it.

The number has also been worn by Jackie Harris, Antonio Bryant and Brett Pierce since Irvin retired. It was never taken out of circulation.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

Irvin gave his blessing for Bryant to wear it.

Oh, no doubt. And I hope Dez lives up to it.

 

[gimmesix]

Does anyone wonder why Irvin's 88 never got the same treatment? The Triplets are all held in such high esteem and some believe Irvin was the catalyst for it all, but strangely his number has been quickly given to high round receivers since he left. It's more a tribute to the greatness of 88 in Cowboys lore than it is a tribute to Irvin or even Pearson.

It's because of the number of receivers and tight ends on the roster relative to the amount of numbers in the 80s available to them. Of course, now that receivers can also use numbers in the teens that argument isn't as relative.

Look at the number of quarterbacks on a roster compared to the jersey numbers available to them (and kickers), or the number of running backs compared to the jerseys available to them (between 20-50), which helps mitigate the fact that defensive backs also use those numbers. (How many teams carry 29 players at those positions? Which is probably the reason tight ends have been allowed to use numbers in the 40s as well.)

Really, limiting tight ends and receivers to numbers in the 80s, like the league did, doesn't seem fair in comparison ... but I presume that decision was made back when the league was more about running and fewer receivers were carried.