Dez Bryant ‘shocked’ by helmet penalty, wasn’t angry at ref he says

The Dallas Cowboys bounced back from their loss to the Detroit Lions with a win over the Minnesota Vikings. Wide receiver Dez Bryant received a lot of backlash over his emotional displays on the side line which were described as tantrums. He claimed they were positive in nature and NFL films released video to prove Bryant was being truthful, but he still got flack.

Bryant was seen being emotional on the sidelines but in a much more positive way on Sunday. He was seen encouraging teammates and fist bumping on the side lines. Then later in the game, he got called for offensive pass interference. He thought the call should’ve gone the other way but it didn’t and he took his helmet off to confront the referee.

Taking your helmet off is a penalty, and Bryant was flagged for that as well.

“I wasn’t angry at the ref,” Bryant told the Dallas Morning News. “I was trying to see what the call was. I thought they called pass interference on the defense. When I was trying to come out of my break, the guy was tugging on me a little bit and I was trying to break away from it. He threw the flag and the whole time I’m thinking it’s a flag on [Minnesota]. Then I took my helmet off and I didn’t know that that was a penalty. I was kind of shocked and then I heard the ref say, ‘He took his helmet off.’ I know now not to take my helmet off. If you go back and look at the play, you’ll see I’m shocked. I’m confused.”

So if he wasn’t angry at the referee, why’d he take his helmet off?

“So he could see me clear,” Bryant said. “I took my helmet off so I could tell him. I didn’t know it was a flag because the play was over with. I’ll learn from it.”