Jason Garrett on Dez Bryant locker room tirade: ‘It’s a great teaching opportunity for us’

Dallas Cowboys Coach Jason Garrett put the best possible spin on Dez Bryant’s latest profane locker room outburst, saying his star receiver’s behavior presents the coaching staff with a “great teaching opportunity” and the players “a great learning opportunity.”

Bryant blew up at reporters and Cowboys employees after practice Thursday, yelling and cursing during a lengthy tirade that occured when a media member, according to Bryant, used a racial slur toward teammate Devin Street.

The reporter, who is African American, and others around him say he did not use the word, while Bryant and Street insist that he did. After yelling and cursing at the media, Bryant left the room, only to return and chastise another reporter for a tweet Bryant said only reported part of what had happened.

Several teammates and members of the organization tried to intervene. Bryant addressed Cowboys Senior Vice President Rich Dalrymple: “How ‘bout you fix it, Rich. You talking to us, you talking to the wrong people. You talking to the wrong people.

“I’ll make sure that I put it out then, since ya’ll not going to say nothing.”

Bryant later tweeted that he did blow up at the media but one of the reasons was that a reporter had used the N-word toward a player. He also wrote: “If you going to tell something tell the whole thing...I’m done with the situation...I hope everyone is having a great day.’’

The next day, Garrett said he talked to Bryant and the rest of the team about the proper way to handle such situations.

“It’s a great teaching opportunity for us as coaches and a great learning opportunity for Dez and our whole football team and that’s what we’ve tried to do, is use it as an opportunity to get better,” Garrett said. “We didn’t handle that situation the right way. Dez didn’t handle that situation the right way.”