Archer: Can Dez Bryant's passion ever be too much?

Cotton

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Can Dez Bryant's passion ever be too much?

by Todd Archer

OXNARD, Calif. -- What the Dallas Cowboys love most about Dez Bryant is his passion.

It’s the first tenet coach Jason Garrett preaches: passion, emotion and enthusiasm.

Now, the reason the Cowboys paid Bryant a five-year, $70 million contract is his ability as a receiver. He is at or near the top of the list of best receivers in the NFL. He has crazy athletic ability that separates himself from the craziest athletes in the NFL.

But it’s the desire Bryant brings every day -- the passion -- that is his calling card.

He did not practice against the St. Louis Rams but he was right in the middle of the action. On Monday, as the Rams' defensive backs chirped, Bryant chirped right back. Upset with the performance of his receivers, Bryant was vocal with his group. During the special-teams portion of practice, Bryant talked and talked, upset with what he was seeing from the offense.

At his Tuesday news conference, Garrett was asked if Bryant’s passion was channeled the right way.

“I didn’t see real issues,” he said. “I love Dez Bryant, our coaches love Dez Bryant, our players love Dez Bryant. There’s a lot to love about Dez Bryant.”

On Tuesday, Bryant, who is rehabbing from a hamstring strain, showed up to practice in full pads. During one-on-one drills, he begged for a snap to go against the ever-trash-talking Rams defensive backs. Twice, offensive coordinator Scott Linehan had to say no, once after Tony Romo gave Bryant a play to run.

The talking he did Monday only intensified Tuesday.

When the fights broke out between the Cowboys' defense and Rams' offense, Bryant was speaking with owner and general manager Jerry Jones and got involved in the fracas. He eventually took an Imoan Claiborne fist to the face. Somewhere along the way he lost a diamond earring.

Like he did after a fight earlier in camp with teammate Tyler Patmon, Bryant could not let it go. He kept walking toward the Rams and talking.

“I don’t know what you categorize it as but you certainly love his passion and love how much he loves his team and his teammates,” executive vice president Stephen Jones said. "But I’m not supportive of anything that has to do with something that ends up in fights and scrums and those types of situations so all that’s going to do is Dez -- and he’s been told this by Jason after the first situation we had here internally -- that’s only going to leave you missing games, getting thrown out of a game and having major fines and maybe missing more games.”

There are no repercussions for training-camp fights. Coaches talk about not wanting them, but perhaps secretly they like them, believing it helps the team-bonding experience.

But there is also a time when enough is enough. Bryant’s passion is unmatched, but did it cross the line against the Rams?

“I don’t know that overboard is the word,” Garrett said. “You want it to be channeled and focused in the right direction. You never want to diminish someone’s passion for something. Certainly Dez Bryant’s passion for football is something we all admired and if we all had it, we’d have a hell of a football team.”

If there was some good news for Bryant, a member of the security staff found his earring after practice.
 

Cotton

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Or learn how not to over antagonize people.
 

mcnuttz

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Nothing wrong with antagonizing people. It's part of his game in my opinion. Kind of gets in the head of opponents.
Agreed.

And it works best when you're one of the greats.

Jeff Heath trying to pull it off is just awkward.
 

L.T. Fan

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Nothing wrong with antagonizing people. It's part of his game in my opinion. Kind of gets in the head of opponents.
I used the term over antagonize. It's one thing to be verbose but there can also be a breaking point that does more harm than good.
 

L.T. Fan

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Give me an example of where that's a problem?
Dez himself got punched in the face. He was lucky but it could have been a busted jaw like Geno Smith. Dez baited the Rams and it could have been a bad situation all around. He went too far in my opinion but I am certain you will disagree.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Dez himself got punched in the face. He was lucky but it could have been a busted jaw like Geno Smith. Dez baited the Rams and it could have been a bad situation all around. He went too far in my opinion but I am certain you will disagree.
No but if it happened in a game Dez just got us 15 yards and a first down and possibly one of the other teams top players being ejected from the game. I'll take that any day of the week.
 

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No but if it happened in a game Dez just got us 15 yards and a first down and possibly one of the other teams top players being ejected from the game. I'll take that any day of the week.
It wasn't a game and it could have gotten a lot of people injured. There is a time and place for things but the practices obviously wasn't a good time to provoke (or over antagonize) opponents. To me the incident is evidence that it went too far. A game situation may be okay but knowing when to engage is important as well.
 

Cowboysrock55

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It wasn't a game and it could have gotten a lot of people injured. There is a time and place for things but the practices obviously wasn't a good time to provoke (or over antagonize) opponents. To me the incident is evidence that it went too far. A game situation may be okay but knowing when to engage is important as well.
So it's Dez's fault that someone else threw a punch? I wouldn't exactly blame a victim for what the perpetrator did.
 

BipolarFuk

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Guy can't fight a lick.

I personally know dozens of people who would stomp a mud hole in his ass.
 

Chocolate Lab

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This won't be popular, but I agree with David Moore. You can be passionate without being obnoxious and out of control. And being "passionate" shouldn't mean you get a pass on anything and everything.

But then I've always thought all those sideline histrionics in the name of "firing people up" were so overrated.
 

Jiggyfly

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It wasn't a game and it could have gotten a lot of people injured. There is a time and place for things but the practices obviously wasn't a good time to provoke (or over antagonize) opponents. To me the incident is evidence that it went too far. A game situation may be okay but knowing when to engage is important as well.
How did Dez provoke this when he was a football feild away when this all started?

He was talking to Jerry when this jumped off.
 

1bigfan13

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It wasn't a game and it could have gotten a lot of people injured. There is a time and place for things but the practices obviously wasn't a good time to provoke (or over antagonize) opponents. To me the incident is evidence that it went too far. A game situation may be okay but knowing when to engage is important as well.
According to Peter King this whole thing stemmed from the Rams players being peeved that Dez was trash-talking and treating Monday's practice as if it were a real game.

Unless it was supposed to be some sort of half-speed practice, I don't fault Dez at all for going hard in practice. Practice as you play is my motto.

If the Rams have a problem with an intense session of practice that's their problem.

Maybe that's part of the reason why they haven't been worth a damn in over a decade. Just a thought.
 
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