Gosselin: Missing work mean you're passionate? No, and Dez Bryant's actions hurt all the Cowboys

Cotton

One-armed Knife Sharpener
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
119,713
Missing work mean you're passionate? No, and Dez Bryant's actions hurt all the Cowboys

By Rick Gosselin , Staff Columnist

Jason Garrett says Dez Bryant's decision to go AWOL and skip out on the Cowboys for the better part of three days at the start of this week was "well-intended."

"Intended"? Certainly.

"Well-intended"? Certainly not.

Garrett says Bryant's decision not to show up for injury treatment and an MRI on Monday and team meetings Tuesday and Wednesday was because of his passion.

"He's a very passionate person," Garrett said. "He loves football. He loves this team. He's a driven guy. His response to this was not the right one. But it was an understandable response given his personality and everything he puts into this. He's an emotional person."
Not showing up for work is "understandable"? Not in the adult world.

I have passion for my writing. If I went AWOL from The Dallas Morning News for three days, disappearing and going incommunicado, I doubt my bosses would talk about my passion. They'd talk about my irresponsibility.

Irresponsibility is the reason Bryant is a Cowboy. Concern over his irresponsibility as a person is why a player with top-10 talent slid all the way to the Cowboys at 24 in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft. Twenty-three other teams couldn't, wouldn't and didn't trust Bryant enough to draft him.

The Cowboys identified his value to the team as a Pro Bowl pass catcher in 2015 with a five-year, $70 million contract. For that money, the Cowboys expect Bryant to show up for work -- something he didn't do on Monday, Tuesday and the better part of Wednesday.

If the Cowboys lose to the 49ers on Sunday, and the offensive linemen decide not to report for the team meetings Tuesday and Wednesday, would Garrett let them off the hook because of their passion? If the defensive line fails for another week to sack a quarterback and its members decide to skip out on the team meetings Tuesday and Wednesday, would Garrett let them off the hook because of their passion?

Bryant showed he can be a team player on the field Sunday night when he returned to the game against the Chicago Bears after he tweaked his right knee and caught his first touchdown pass of the season. As a precautionary measure, the Cowboys scheduled him for that MRI on Monday.

Football is the ultimate team game because there are 22 starters a side. They must work in sync as units to succeed. Jerry Jones expects the 53 men on his roster to be team players -- on and off the field. That includes Bryant, not excludes him. Show up for work along with your 52 teammates. If you can't, you'd better have a good excuse.

And the excuse?

"He thought he was going to get some bad news when he got the MRI Monday morning," Garrett said. "And like some of us do at times in life, he avoided it. He didn't come in and take care of his business. He suspected it was worse than the information we got."

The Cowboys pay Bryant handsomely to play football. Let the trainers and doctors do the thinking on injuries. Just do your job. Show up for work. Act like a responsible adult. Be a good teammate. There are a lot of folks depending on you, including a rookie quarterback.

The Cowboys didn't buy Bryant's excuse for his absence, by the way. They fined him an undisclosed amount.

I've received several emails and Twitter comments since the Garrett news conference about the double standard of the Jimmy Johnson era. Jimmy often kidded about it himself. If a player fell asleep in a team meeting, Jimmy would cut him. But if that player was Troy Aikman, Jimmy would gently nudge him to wake him up.

To earn that special treatment, though, you need to be in the building. You have to show up for work. Bryant wasn't in the building -- and he didn't bother to tell anyone that he wasn't coming to work or why he wasn't coming. He once again reminded the Cowboys why 23 NFL teams passed on him in the 2010 NFL draft.

The Cowboys don't lead the league these days in offense or defense. But they do lead the league in enabling. And Garrett was at his enabling best with Bryant on Thursday. Passion is supposed to be an asset, not an excuse.
 

Cotton

One-armed Knife Sharpener
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
119,713
Jason Garrett's words on accountability ring hollow
11:06 AM CT
Jean-Jacques Taylor
ESPN Staff Writer

FRISCO, Texas -- Jason Garrett spent much of Wednesday covering for receiver Dez Bryant, who doesn't need coddling.

The coach spent the entire offseason preaching the importance of personal accountability and accountability to the team, but that didn't seem to apply to Bryant on Wednesday.

On Sunday, Bryant suffered a hairline fracture of his tibial plateau in his right leg, near the knee, and he could be out up to three weeks. He was injured on the second play against the Chicago Bears. He missed six plays and finished with three catches for 40 yards and a 17-yard touchdown in the Dallas Cowboys' 31-17 win.

After the game, owner Jerry Jones said Bryant would get an MRI on Monday, the players' day off. But Bryant missed Monday's treatment for injured players and Tuesday's meetings, sources told ESPN.

Bryant has been fined, according to the Dallas Morning News. The fine for an unexcused missed activity is $12,050, according to the league's collective bargaining agreement. The Cowboys also could've fined him $12,050 for failure to follow rehabilitation program prescribed by a club physician.

Whatever the amount, do you really think that money matters to a dude who owns a Bentley truck and is eyeing a Lamborghini? Bryant is making $9 million this season -- $562,500 per game before taxes.

Bryant's behavior, based on what we know, is disappointing since he's one of the team's leaders. Garrett's behavior is worse, considering his focus on accountability this season.

Garrett has told the story of 17 inches numerous times this offseason. It’s the story from former Cal Poly-Pomona baseball coach John Scolinos, who won three Division II national championships in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Here’s the gist of his popular 1996 speech: Home plate is 17 inches wide in Little League, high school, college and the big leagues. The size of the plate never changes. No matter what level of baseball you're playing, every pitcher must achieve the standard and throw the ball across the plate.

Those who can do it, succeed; those who don't, fail. The standard is the standard.

"That story has been an important story for us," Garrett said during training camp. "It illustrates something we think is so important: accountability. Seventeen inches is about accountability. Accountability to yourself, to your teammates, to the standards we set for our football team."

Bryant is a 28-year-old man with three children and a $72 million contract. He doesn't need anyone making excuses for him, but that's exactly what Garrett did.

Twice.

It’s disappointing for a guy who spends so much time talking about how proud he is of the culture he's established with the Cowboys. If there's a good explanation, share it. If there's not, chastise the behavior and move on because there's no need to turn a one-day story into a two-day story.

Here's how Garrett handled several questions about why it was taking so long to get the results of Bryant's MRI exam.

What's been the delay?

"I don't want to get into the details of all of that," he said. "We're going to evaluate Dez's knee just like we would anybody else's injury and he's not going to practice today."

Was the MRI taken this morning?

"Again, I'm not going to get into the details of what we do with all of our injured players. We're evaluating his knee. He's not going to practice today, and we'll take his situation day by day."

After receiving the MRI results, Garrett held an impromptu news conference. Was there a reason it took so long to come to this conclusion?

"No, not necessarily," Garrett said.

Why did it take two days to get the MRI?

"Yeah, I don't want to get into the whole medical procedure. We have this information now with Dez and we're going to take his situation day by day and we'll evaluate his situation as the week goes on."

Did he avoid taking the MRI to avoid knowing what it might possibly be?

"Again, I'm not going to get into the evaluation of all that. We have the information now and we'll take his situation day by day."

Why cover for him? The owner knew. Team vice president Stephen Jones knew. The assistant coaches knew. So did his teammates. It's not like Garrett would've been revealing a secret.

Maybe, he just didn't want us to know he didn't have control of the situation, or of Bryant. Perhaps Garrett didn't want to deal with the fallout from publicly criticizing Bryant, whose contract makes him impossible to cut.

This says more about Garrett than Bryant.

Remember, Garrett is the same guy who stood next to former defensive end Greg Hardy during his meltdown in New York in October 2015. Hardy berated special-teams coach Rich Bisaccia and swiped at former receiver Devin Street, but after the game Garrett told us Hardy was encouraging his teammates.

A day later, Garrett said he spoke to Hardy about the player channeling his emotions better.

Whatever.

It's a lot easier to cut irrelevant players such as Christine Michael and Corey White like he did last season because they didn't wear suits on a road trip than to deal with high-salaried players such as Hardy and Bryant.

Garrett loves to talk about the culture he's created with the Cowboys, and his roster full of the right type of guys; guys who play with a passion and intensity that's hard to find. Even the most conscientious kids must occasionally be disciplined.

Every action has a consequence. Some are positive; others are negative.

For Bryant, there was no real consequence for his behavior other than exposing Garrett as a gifted orator whose messages occasionally carry little substance.
 

Jiggyfly

Banned
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
9,220
:cry

Now everybody wants to call Garrett out, what about when he let Barber give a middle finger to the dress code the 1st week he got the job.
 

Rev

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
19,335
GJW alert.
 

jsmith6919

Honored Member - RIP
Joined
Aug 26, 2013
Messages
28,407
:cry

Now everybody wants to call Garrett out, what about when he let Barber give a middle finger to the dress code the 1st week he got the job.
Or when he through Romo under the bus for the Green Bay game fiasco
 

Genghis Khan

The worst version of myself
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
37,486
:cry

Now everybody wants to call Garrett out, what about when he let Barber give a middle finger to the dress code the 1st week he got the job.
They've been eviscerating Garrett the past couple days. They are pretending it's about accountability and discipline, but it's really about them being butt hurt that he gave the SF media the scoop on Bryant first. It's petty.
 

Cowboysrock55

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
52,464
They've been eviscerating Garrett the past couple days. They are pretending it's about accountability and discipline, but it's really about them being butt hurt that he gave the SF media the scoop on Bryant first. It's petty.
This is exactly correct.
 

Jiggyfly

Banned
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
9,220
They've been eviscerating Garrett the past couple days. They are pretending it's about accountability and discipline, but it's really about them being butt hurt that he gave the SF media the scoop on Bryant first. It's petty.
And transparent.
 

ravidubey

DCC 4Life
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
20,162
This "breaking news" has more to do with fantasy football waiver wires and point spreads than football.

I'd rather no one knew outside the team for as long as possible.
 

boozeman

28 Years And Counting...
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
121,748
:cry

Now everybody wants to call Garrett out, what about when he let Barber give a middle finger to the dress code the 1st week he got the job.
How about cutting Corey White and Christine Michael for not wearing suits on a road trip?
 

boozeman

28 Years And Counting...
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
121,748
They've been eviscerating Garrett the past couple days. They are pretending it's about accountability and discipline, but it's really about them being butt hurt that he gave the SF media the scoop on Bryant first. It's petty.
Petty? Yeah probably so. But even if he did tell them, I wonder if they would be on his ass this much.
 

townsend

Banned
Joined
Apr 11, 2013
Messages
5,377
This is some entitled bullshit. A bunch of coddled reporters asking for a pound of flesh because they weren't provided with immediate information.

Dez is a human, he had a human response to a scary situation, and Garrett, who I will shit on in almost any circumstance, didn't make a big deal out of it.

I think Dallas media should have their medical procedures scrutinized too. "What JJTs hemorrhoids are back? That's going to wreck my fantasy team. Maybe I can pick Tim Cowlishaw off the waiver wire, good thing we don't allow these people a modicum of privacy"
 

VA Cowboy

Brand New Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
4,710
To be fair to Garrett, he's just a bystander. He has no power or control. Going back to the days of Switzer and Gailey, Jerry has appeased star players like Deion and Irvin overriding decisions the HC made. Other than the BP years it's been a constant since Jimmy left. No surprise it's now happening with guys like Dez. There's no accountability and even if Garrett had any balls he wouldn't be allowed to use them.
Jerry is the one constant and the cancer in our organization and culture will remain until he is gone.
 

Jiggyfly

Banned
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
9,220
The whole "Missing Work" argument is just weak to begin with if you are as valuable as Dez is to the bottom line of this "Company" you would be afforded the same amount of leeway.

I have a buddy who is a designer who has went on many benders and has kept a job and working in the oil and gas field I know of others who have went awol and kept their jobs some I have had to track down.
 

Cotton

One-armed Knife Sharpener
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
119,713
 
Top Bottom