IRVING, Texas — Cowboys’ wide receiver Dez Bryant is the riddle many had feared when character issues allowed the Cowboys to take one of the best players in the 2010 draft late in the first round.
Bryant is coming off a career-high 145 yards and a critical fourth-quarter touchdown in a 23-20 overtime victory over the Browns. Barring injury or another twist to the story, he probably will have his first 1,000-yard season.
Now is as good a time as any to ask whether Bryant is finally arriving in his third season, though not even the ultimate Cowboys optimist is ready to give a definitive answer.
Forget the numbers for a moment. The day after a potential resolution was announced in a domestic dispute with his mother, Bryant all but invited reporters to his locker so he could declare himself ready to put the “focus on football.”
Three days later, he was there when Tony Romo needed him late in the game, matching the steady and reliable Jason Witten with three catches in the fourth quarter, including a 28-yard score that put Dallas ahead, and adding two more in overtime in the 23-20 Dallas win. Romo ended up throwing his way 15 times, and Bryant had 12 catches.
Afterward, Bryant already was talking about trying to do it again in today’s Thanksgiving game against the Redskins.
“With a win, it feels good,” Bryant said. “Just got to put it behind me and get ready for Washington.”
The previous two games at Cowboys Stadium, Bryant cost Romo an interception each time by not doing what his quarterback thought he would. Not that this time.
“He ran good routes. “He was at his right depth and you see the kind of player he can be when he plays football at the level that he can,” Romo said. “That’s exciting to see his work ethic paying off.”
Braynt’s first season in Dallas was uneventful on the field. He missed four games and finished with just 561 yards, though he had a 100-yard game.
Then the trouble started. He was kicked out of an upscale Dallas mall in early 2011 for wearing his pants too low, and a week later, lawsuits surfaced alleging that he had nearly $1 million in unpaid bills from jewelry and game tickets, mostly racked up before he signed a five-year contract with $8.3 million in guaranteed money.
Another spotty season on the field in 2011 was followed by the most serious incident, this one involving his arrest last summer. According to an affidavit filed by police in the Dallas suburb of DeSoto, Bryant struck his mother, Angela Bryant, in the face with a ball cap and grabbed her T-shirt.
Bryant’s mom didn’t want to press charges, and prosecutors announced a deal last week that could lead to the dismissal of a misdemeanor family violence charge if Bryant isn’t arrested and regularly attends anger management counseling for the next year.
Witten said he isn’t sure a resolution of the case is the reason Bryant seems ready to be the Cowboys’ No. 1 receiver. It’s looking that way, particularly after Bryant helped beat the Browns with so many catches on shorter routes, not usually his strength.
“That’s the other part of being a receiver,” Witten said. “He understands, ‘Hey, I’m a go-to guy.’ ’’