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One whiff and Ezekiel Elliott's eyelids begin to flutter, his mouth falls oddly agape and his pupils roll back in his head. It's Week 4 of the NFL season, and kickoff is just moments away inside AT&T Stadium, where Elliott and a handful of his Cowboys teammates are breathlessly engaged in the latest, strangest sports ritual: huffing the stomach-turning noxious fumes found in smelling salts.
The ammonia-based inhalant is manufactured for the express purpose of treating or preventing fainting, but at some point, NFL players and other athletes discovered they could repurpose the decongestant properties and adrenaline-pumping side effects into a perfectly legal, low-tech pick-me-up .