IRVING, Texas --Wide receiver Dez Bryant experienced some tightness in his quad muscle Sunday against the Jets, possibly caused during his lone punt return in the first quarter.
The Cowboys had already decided against using Bryant on kickoff returns, where he averaged 24.4 yards on 12 returns last year. They don't want to risk their young receiver's health by overexposing him on special teams.
But now, what about punt returns, where Bryant had two touchdowns last year?
"We have to address those things," head coach Jason Garrett said. "We kind of made a conscious decision to keep him off the kickoff return situation except for special situations where we give him the opportunity to return the punts. We feel like that's a safer play, so to speak.
"He has so much ability in that area that you don't want to just take him off it completely, but at the same time he's going to be such a bigger part of our offense this year as a starting receiver. We'll evaluate that week by week and see what the best decision is going forward."
The Cowboys return to practice Wednesday, and Bryant said after the game that his bruise should be OK with treatment. As Garrett pointed out, the team's medical and athletic training staff wouldn't have kept him in the game if he was going to further injure himself.
