Michael Irvin says he’ll talk to Dez Bryant about side line outbursts
By Mike Dyce
The Dallas Cowboys suffered a devastating loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday. The Cowboys melt down was overshadowed or exemplified by Dez Bryant’s multiple outbursts along the side line. Former Cowboys wide receiver and Hall of Famer Michael Irvin, also was known to get vocal on the side lines.
The sideline demeanor comparison portrays Bryant’s outburst as a temper tantrum, where Irvin was viewed as a vocal leader. First, Irvin pointed out that the people he talked to inside the Cowboys organization didn’t have a problem with Bryant’s actions.
“I talked people in Dez’s camp and people with the Cowboys’ camp and the way they see this is it is passion on the sideline. Guys are telling me, these guys were embracing on the bus ride and going to the plane talking about it. [People on the bus were] talking to Dez about ‘We don’t have any problem with it. We just want to make sure that the passion is directed in the right way.’”
Irvin also agreed with Bryant that it was just passion, but acknowledged that he needs to learn how to express it in the right way.
“It is just passion. You have to know how to address that kind of passion,” Irvin added, via the Dallas Morning News. “He doesn’t have a problem with Jason Witten. He doesn’t have a problem with Tony Romo. He wants the football.” “For years we talked about people on the sideline of the Dallas Cowboys having no passion, no leadership and it seems like they don’t care. Now we get a guy with maybe a little too much passion and he doesn’t know how to exactly display it in front of a TV audience, but now we are going to go and say, ‘Get rid of all the passion you have?’ No, it is absolutely crazy.”
Irvin makes a strong point about the passion on the sideline. Fans clamored for years to see this kind of passion from their stars and now they’re turned off by it. Irvin said he’d talk to Bryant though and give him some guidance.
“I will talk to Dez about this. You can’t go after the quarterback. I have never gone after Troy. Search all you want, you will never find tape of me going after Troy. I am going to talk to Dez about this same thing. Get everyone else going, but you walk quietly up to Tony and say ‘What is going on buddy? Can you get me the ball a little bit better tonight?’ and talk to him and a little bit better. I will address that with him.”