Good or bad, the Dallas Cowboys are always frontpage news, and besides focusing on Tony Romo and another fourth quarter debacle, Dez Bryant caused plenty of headlines himself by walking off the field during their loss to the Green Bay Packers before the game was over, not staying to watch all the kneel down ceremony. It turns out not wanting others to see him crying had something to do with it.
But of course, bashing someone for quitting on the team or being immature is always the first thing people do. Can Bryant handle himself better? Probably, he’s not perfect, and emotional players always go over the top or stray from the normal path once in a while. Bryant’s main goal in the offseason heading into 2013 was becoming more mature, more level headed. Moments like this one make it seem like he hasn’t changed at all.
However, Bryant doesn’t see it that way, and the Cowboys don’t either. However, Bryant probably understood, or was forced to understand, he needs to issue an apology in front of reporters in hope of this whole thing blowing over, with the Cowboys now focusing on winning the remaining two games so they can make the playoffs.
First and foremost, let me start by saying that was not the right thing to do was to walk back in the locker room. I wasn’t looking at it that way, how people are portraying it, how I looked, which I clearly understand. Everybody in this locker room, they understand, they understood my frustration, losing like that, that’s hard.
I know I’m a very emotional player. I’ve always been that way. I got to do a better job of controlling my emotions. I feel like there was no way I could have sat there and watched them knee the ball and shake any one of those players’ hands. Just because of the fashion of how we lost. And it was heartbreaking. It had nothing to do with my teammates. Nothing. Because I honestly felt like we played great, we just didn’t finish.
Bryant had his moment of non-football headline earlier this season, when the Cowboys dropped a win against the Cowboys, as it seemed like he was yelling at Tony Romo on the sidelines. However, videos released after that “incident” pointed towards him and Jason Witten actually encouraging their quarterback before a final desperation play that didn’t work out.
Maybe Bryant doesn’t come off in the media as a great leader and an individual that handles adversity the best way, but focusing and manipulating every minor incident he’s involved in doesn’t paint the true picture of an excellent wide receiver, who just gets a bit too emotional sometimes.