One of the more dominant storylines from Sunday was what appeared to be Dez Bryant ranting and raving on the Cowboys sideline after not getting the ball on one of Dallas possessions. His behavior inspired plenty of criticism and it appears that criticism was largely misguided.
In footage released by NFL Films, Bryant can be heard screaming rather non-negative things during his sideline rant.
Based on this:
It looks like Dez is furious he's not getting enough passes thrown his way. Based on the new video, it doesn't seem quite like that. Bryant's simply engaging in a sideline conversation about how to play the Lions defense, only he's doing it with REALLY LOUD [BLEEPING] NOISES.
The reaction from the Cowboys was surprisingly unified after their loss, with Tony Romo, Jason Witten, Jason Garrett and Jerry Jones all getting behind Dez. Bryant himself and his passion as "always positive."
“My passion is always positive,” Bryant said. "It's always positive. It's going to remain the same way. I'm not saying anything wrong. I'm not saying anything bad. It's all positive. That's just what it is."
Turns out he was right.
At one point (not seen in the GIF above), Bryant was sitting near Romo and popped up and -- while gesticulating wildly -- that he and Romo were an amazing wideout-quarterback tandem.
"We good on that, Tony!" Bryant screamed to Romo. "We the best in the NFL on that. We the best in the NFL!"
Watching the game there's no way you'd think that Bryant's message to his team was entirely positive. And maybe that's not exactly the case. Bryant was screaming swear words and freaking out about the Cowboys offensive gameplan.
But sailor-style emotion on an NFL sideline is far from new. Bryant's an uber-talented 24-year-old star in the making. There's nothing new about an insanely passionate and energetic 24-year-old.
Maybe his ranting isn't loved by every single one of his teammates, but it appears the criticism of Dez was a lot further off kilter than his sideline antics.
