Dez Bryant denies he trash-talked injured Seahawk, blames ‘bulls*** media’

Dez Bryant returned to the football field Sunday after sitting six games with a broken foot, but it wasn’t a happy homecoming. The Cowboys lost, Bryant was held to two receptions for 12 yards and, controversially, he was accused of trash talking Seahawks players shortly after Ricardo Lockette had to be immobilized on a stretcher after being involved in a scary collision on the field.

After Lockette was injured, Bryant was spotted by cameras apparently pointing at Seahawks defensive end Bruce Irvin and uttering something that contained an expletive. The moment briefly went viral on social media.

After the game, Bryant was upset with media. According to USA Today, he confronted reporters in the locker room.

“Stay the (expletive) away ...,” Bryant yelled to a group of reporters. “Why don’t you all get the (bleep) out of here? This is our (expletive) locker room. You (expletive) dirty (expletive).”

Bryant eventually sat down with reporters at his locker after reportedly being calmed by Cowboys PR staff, but he remained upset. Initially, he bristled at the suggestion that Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman got the better of him. Then he addressed the accusations over Lockette’s injury without any prompt.

“I won’t ever, ever, ever, ever wish bad on a player that’s been knocked down,” Bryant said. “Come on man, stop with the bull s---. Not once did I say ‘Hey, that’s what you get.’ I got down on one knee and prayed for that man.”

Bryant also defended himself in a since-deleted tweet.

Bryant put the blame directly on media for propagating rumors. When asked if the Seahawks accused him of saying something insensitive, Bryant responded with “Nah man. Y’all did, man. Bull s--- media did.”

Bruce Irvin, a teammate of Lockette, defended Bryant on Twitter, saying that he was “talking to the officials the whole time” and that he never said anything about Lockette. It seems he agrees that whatever Bryant was caught saying on camera was taken completely out of context.

With no other context and no accusations from anyone else who was on the field, Bryant may have a legitimate gripe with anyone who tried to make a negative story out of his behavior.