**
IRVING, Texas** – Dez Bryant deserves an apology. He probably won't get it.
But hopefully, the wide receiver will get the benefit of the doubt next time when his emotions ride high on the sidelines. And when I say "next time," I really mean Sunday against the Vikings. Because that's exactly when it will happen again.
Dez Bryant is an emotional player. He's an emotional person. He gets amped up in the locker room on a Wednesday talking about playing Madden with his teammates. It doesn't take much. He's a competitive dude who just doesn't always know how to corral those emotions.
But thankfully, at least one of his sideline rants has audio to support what not only Dez explained, but Jason Garrett, Jerry Jones and Tony Romo all said, simply stating the guy is trying to do everything in his power to help the team win.
Does he think he can help the team? Of course he does. And he should. We all know what he can do when he gets the ball.
It's sad that NFL commentators such as Brian Billick, who has won a Super Bowl and spent countless hours on NFL sidelines, can jump to conclusions and call Dez a "spoiled baby routine." He should apologize for it, but he won't. I guess you can make the argument that he's a color commentator who is paid to give his opinions. That can be his opinion, but in this case, it seems pretty wrong.
Billick didn't even stop in the booth. He writes a column for the Fox Sports website and followed it up by saying Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald and A.J. Green "don't act that way."
That's the dumbest point a coach can make – especially one who coached Ray Lewis for many years. I didn't see Mike Singletary eating grass and doing dances like he did before a game. But that was Ray. That worked for him. That was his style.
This is Dez. This is who Dez is. You can't really change the guy and you shouldn't want to.
I've said this statement for about 20 years pertaining to this: When Michael Irvin used to scream for the football? Shut him up by throwing him the ball. He's worth it.
Even in 2002, they had a rookie named Antonio Bryant who was a lot like Dez in many ways. He used to do backflips (literally) on the sideline because he wanted the ball. But for the most part, they could shut him up by giving him the ball because he was also worth it.
Same with Dez. These guys who scream for the football have a point, too. It's not like Kevin Ogletree slams his helmet down demanding the ball.
Now, I'm not saying it's 100 percent OK for Dez Bryant to get in the face of his teammates. But we all know that this stuff happens. It happens at the YMCA on Saturday mornings with pickup basketball. It happens in Church League softball (guilty), and it happens just about anywhere else that competitive men are battling it out. Of course it happens in an NFL game when you give up a touchdown in the final seconds, taking away a 5-3 record and giving you your average 4-4 mark once again. [embedded_ad]
It's a painful feeling. But that second rant, the one between Jason Witten and Dez, where DeMarcus Ware had to step in, you're talking about three of the more passionate players on the team. That's why it boiled over like that. Personally, I liked seeing what I saw from Ware. Those eyes and those gritting teeth let me know why this guy has been so good for so long. There was a mean streak out of him that I haven't seen in a while.
Then again, maybe it wasn't. Because I didn't get the audio of what he was saying. And we all know that pictures and video without sound can be deceiving.
