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Dez Bryant’s drops indicate a lack of mental toughness

By John Bankston

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Dallas Cowboys wide recevier Dez Bryant three dropped balls on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers were more about a lack of mental toughness than effort.

A healthy Dez Bryant was supposed to help the Dallas Cowboys beat the Green Bay Packers Sunday. A dynamic play-making wide receiving threat on the outside would make the whole offense more balanced. The quarterback would be more productive (just heave it up to Dez!), and taking a few deep shots would help the run game.

Instead on the game’s opening drive Bryant dropped a pass in the end zone that resulted in an interception, and before the half dropped another crucial third down pass that led to a punt. In all Bryant was targeted six times, dropped three balls, and caught one for nine yards as the Cowboys lost 28-7.

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But this game was 14-7 with five minutes to play, and really anyone’s to win or lose. The $70-million-dollar irony is to win in Green Bay the Cowboys didn’t need Bryant to be a dynamic play-making receiver. They just needed him to catch the ball when it hit him in both hands. He was unable to deliver.

It’s never one player’s fault when a team loses (wins are not a QB stat, any more than they are a WR stat), but you expect more from your playmakers.

Bryant costs $7 million against this year’s salary cap, $13 million next year, and $17 million in 2017. It’s a deal he earned because he can take over a game. It’s a deal he earned because he changes the way defenses scheme.

The problem is Bryant is a different player with Tony Romo throwing him the ball. It’s not a dig against Bryant – it’s true for every wide receiver. The position is entirely co-dependent on the quarterback. However, the drops in Green Bay suggest it’s more than that with Bryant.

Drops are nothing more than a lack of concentration. Drops are mental, more than physical. It’s less a failure of the hands, and more so of the head. What Bryant showed Sunday is he does not possess the mental toughness to get up on the step and stay there with an inaccurate quarterback spraying balls all over the field.

When a great quarterback like Romo is in the pocket delivering strikes, a player like Bryant can settle in and get hot. When a backup caliber quarterback like Matt Cassel is throwing catchable balls maybe only one in every two or three shots, finding a rhythm is more challenging.

Occasionally, that mediocre passer is going to hit him in the hands, but Bryant showed Sunday he can’t keep his head in the game enough to catch it when it’s there.

That’s what head coach Jason Garrett and this coaching staff mean when they talk about grinding it out. Forget the last play, don’t worry about the next play – be your best on this snap. Let everything else go, be in the moment, lock in on this play and be the best version of yourself. A Romo-less Bryant struggles with that.

It’s a shame because those drops significantly impacted the game, and everyone else on the team really gutted it out for 60 minutes. This defensive line is incredible, the way they get after it.

Greg Hardy sacked Aaron Rodgers on third down to kill a drive with about five minutes to play in the third quarter. Moments before that snap, the network feed showed Hardy, hands on his hips, eyes upward, sucking air like he’d been running wind sprints. That sack was pure will. Pure heart. There was little else in the tank to fuel it.

That’s the way the entire defense plays, every minute they’re out on the field. And we saw in Green Bay that when they’re out there for 40 minutes, the last five or so ain’t gonna be too pretty.

What makes it so hard to watch is this defense could carry the team to the playoffs with just a serviceable offense. This offense is epic-scale bad: Eight more punts on Sunday. Five three-and-outs. Only one third-down conversion. Their longest drive was six plays. Six plays!

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Bryant could make this offense serviceable if he had the right mental makeup, but the ability to grind it out is not among his talents. He’s worth every penny of his $70 million so long as Romo is throwing him the ball, but he doesn’t appear to have the mental toughness to elevate a backup and put an offense on his shoulders without Romo. No shame in that. He may be nothing without Romo, but he’s still a hell of a player.

Three more games to go. Now we see who quits, and who has a chance to be a Dallas Cowboy next year.

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