Dez Bryant Injury: Dallas Cowboys Shouldn't Worry About Dez Not Practicing

There shouldn’t be a single concern with Dallas Cowboys WR Dez Bryant not practicing Wednesday.

I wouldn’t be concerned if Bryant didn’t practice all week due to his bothersome quad, actually.

I’ll express concern when Dez doesn’t suit up on Sunday when the Cowboys take on the 49ers in San Francisco. Then we’ll talk.

It’s not as if Dez failed to show up; he was just held out.

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“Cowboys starting wide receiver Dez Bryant isn't dressed for practice today at Cowboys Stadium and is riding a stationary bike in the tunnel as his teammates stretch on the field.

Bryant hurt his quad on a punt return Sunday against the Jets,” according to Dallas Morning News’ Brandon George.

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It’s amazing that all of a sudden people are concerned that Dez isn’t practicing on a Wednesday. Did we all of a sudden forget how many players across the league don’t practice on Wednesdays?

Detroit Lions’ elite WR Calvin “Megatron” Johnson didn’t practice today after rolling his ankle against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Week 1. Why aren’t people overly concerned about him? Because it’s Wednesday!

Johnson is a consummate professional and understands his body better than anybody else. Maybe everybody would take a step back and sleep easy tonight if Bryant comes out this evening and vows to play, like Megatron did.

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“Calvin Johnson said he rolled his left ankle in the Detroit Lions' season-opening win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he should be fine for Sunday's home opener against the Kansas City Chiefs.

‘Get the swelling out, and I’ll be ready,’ Johnson said. ‘I’m walking fine; it’s just you’ve got to get the swelling out before you can do anything. If you don’t get that out, it’ll just blow back up. Then I’ll be down for even longer,’” Johnson said according to Detroit Free Press’ Dave Birkett.

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Evidently, everybody in Dallas needs to be coddled. That’s probably why they continue to choke each year, but we can save that for another day.

People aren’t just overreacting to Dez missing practice, either. I’ve seen too many people overreact and dismiss Dez for his Week 1 performance against the Jets.

Players across the league were dealing with cramps. Matthew Stafford was often seen on the sidelines with trainers. Steven Jackson could miss a month after straining his quad on his first touch. Despite having a regular preseason, we all expected players to deal with conditioning issues following the lockout.

Yes, Dez was in and out of the game against the Jets. If he was full strength, they may have just pulled out the upset.

That’s the nature of football.

This entire Drew Pearson nonsense needs to stop. It seems like he’s jealous that Dez is a freak of nature and the best prospect in Dallas since Michael Irvin. Maybe he’s upset because Bryant is donning his No. 88 jersey. He needs to calm down.

I guarantee this time next year Bryant will be considered a top-five WR in the NFL.

Bryant is one of the elite physical specimens in the NFL. If he wasn’t hampered by injury, he would have dominated a talented Jets secondary. He was taking it to the Jets early in the game. He couldn’t run at full speed after cramping up—not many people could.

The scary part is Bryant is still raw. Yes, he wastes some movement, but he’s still learning to be a professional. He’s getting there, though.

He’ll improve his route-running and take better angles towards the ball. I understand Pearson’s concern there, but how about helping Dez outside of the public sphere instead of throwing him under the bus?

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“’Dez's first move was a jump, a hop-step. What is that?’ Pearson asked. ‘That's one second gone from the pass route. I mean, what is that? Come on....Yeah, he's raw. He's a monster. That's what monsters do, I guess. You see that in high school kids running routes like that,” Pearson said according to Sporting News’ Dennis Dillon.

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For now, he’s relying on his immense athleticism. He can leap with the best of them, and my favorite part of his game is that he will fight for the rock. He is an intense player and will be driven by the negative attention that has been shifted his way.

You watch Dez play ball and he just explodes off your television screen. His abilities are eye-popping, just like the freakish receivers we’ve seen before him. He’s in the Megatron, Randy Moss, Terrell Owens category in terms of ability.

As we’ve seen in the past, elite receivers don’t need to practice every single day. I understand the team would benefit overall from Dez and Tony Romo practicing to better their chemistry, but Bryant is a transcendent receiver.

We’ve seen players like Johnson and Plaxico Burress dominate the field on limited practice time in the past. Considering Dez relies so much on his raw skills right now, he’ll be fine for a week if he doesn’t practice.

Dallas has a tasty matchup with the weak 49ers secondary. Dez doesn’t need much, if any, practice to exploit them after dealing with Darrelle Revis. Believe me, just working on Revis for one night is more than enough practice he’ll need against the 49ers or nearly every other secondary unit he faces this season.

Unless Dez suffers another freak, but devastating, injury like he did last year, I’m not concerned with him missing practice time.

Everyone remotely associated with the Cowboys needs to calm down with this whole Bryant-bashing over every little thing the kid does. He’s going to be a megastar. He’ll play against the 49ers and exploit their defense for a big game.

Hopefully after Sunday, everyone will shut their mouth and let the kid be.