The Dallas Cowboys remain in the playoff hunt. With the win over the Washington Redskins, the team can still take hold of the NFC East, but every win is critical now moving forward. While the offense sputtered for much of the game against the Redskins, Dez Bryant sparked the fourth quarter comeback. However, that came after the receiver blew up on the sidelines over a lack of targets.
Following the game, Bryant admitted he was frustrated. The wide receiver had three catches off seven targets in the game with most of those coming in the fourth quarter. The moment everyone saw was when Matt Cassel tossed a pass to Cole Beasley instead of a wide open Bryant causing the receiver to throw a fit on the sidelines. According to Bryant, that was just him being real in the nature of the game.
"I'm going to be honest; on that one, I was frustrated," Bryant said, via the Dallas Morning News. "But you've just got to understand, that's the game. Everybody wants to make plays. Everybody wants to be there for the team. It is what it is. Let's not confuse real with animated. That's all me. That's how I feel about the game. I love it. I'm going to always be me. If you love something you are going to do whatever to succeed."
Looking at the boxscore, Bryant's night was quiet despite the fact that he was matched up one-on-one with Will Blackmon for most of the game. Cassel rarely threw the deep ball, opting for shorter passes to Jason Witten and Terrance Williams instead of going deep to Bryant. Cassel's longest pass of the night was 42 yards to Bryant, but the rest fell short to players like Devin Street, Robert Turbin and Darren McFadden who had a quiet night on the ground. According to owner Jerry Jones, Cassel was simply reacting to the defense as the quarterback has full faith in Bryant.
"What you saw last week was three days of his best practice," Jones said, via the Dallas News. "He was real impressive at practice. He was not only effective physically, but his motivation, and I think it paid off out there."
If the Cowboys are going to the postseason, Bryant will be the one to get him there. Cassel must do a better job of recognizing the coverage on the receiver who was matched up with Blackmon most of the night. That is easy pickings for Bryant and something Cassel can take advantage of in coming games.
