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How 'bout them Cowboys!

It doesn't surprise me that you feel this way. I know it's not easy, All of these teams you mention have potential problem players and even though they didn't win last yr they were feared teams. Who really fears the Fitzmajic.

Why when the team finishes 2-14 do you think it's BS to call out the leadership of the Texans. You wouldn't be a true fan if you were happy with the results of this franchise.

You just keep on betting. Nobody pays off bets on this MB anyway. (Looking at you DM) You got off of your bet on a technicality.

I'm just saying... Not to play the "superfan" card or anything, but you obviously don't like the way the Texans do things, you do like the way other teams do those things... Just don't understand why you make choices (like following the Texans) that can do nothing but upset you when there are decisions (following a team that does the things you like) you could just as easily make.
 
I'm just saying... Not to play the "superfan" card or anything, but you obviously don't like the way the Texans do things, you do like the way other teams do those things... Just don't understand why you make choices (like following the Texans) that can do nothing but upset you when there are decisions (following a team that does the things you like) you could just as easily make.

I'm not upset, I find the way the Texans do business comical sometimes. I'm just pointing out mistakes the Texans/have/are making in the front office.

I root for the Texans and will continue to do so because I'm a Houstonian 1st and foremost.
 
Dallas creates #CowboySUK hashtag for London game, Philly fans react accordingly

link


:lol:


shirt.jpg
 
What are the "figure-eight" red dots on the jerseys?

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

Poppies, honoring the Britain's war dead.

The NFL says it will team up with the Royal British Legion to mark Remembrance Sunday on Nov. 9.

The Jaguars are the "home" team that day for the third regular-season NFL game in London this year.

In line with the legion's poppy charity appeal, the uniforms and helmets of both teams will feature the red poppy logo. At the end of the game, 80,000 poppies will be dropped into the Wembley stands. The uniforms will be auctioned off for charity.

Poppies are traditionally worn to commemorate the sacrifice of those who died for Britain.

Money raised by the poppy appeal goes to support current and former members of the armed forces and their families.

Tower of London...
poppy2_3001030b.jpg


[IMGwidthsize=620]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/09/12/1410516481241_Image_galleryImage_LONDON_ENGLAND_SEPTEMBER_.JPG[/IMG]
 
Poppies, honoring the Britain's war dead.



Tower of London...
poppy2_3001030b.jpg


[IMGwidthsize=620]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/09/12/1410516481241_Image_galleryImage_LONDON_ENGLAND_SEPTEMBER_.JPG[/IMG]

I didn't make it to the Tower of London, but the honor was huge about town.
 
Clarence Hill Jr. @clarencehilljr
Dez Bryant on protracted contract talks with the Cowboys: "It's about respect. All about respect. I'm a loyal person. Don't test my loyalty"
 
The Cowboys are undefeated on the road this season with 6 wins.

Dolphins, Bengals, 49ers have 4 road wins.
 
How 'bout that Orlando Scandrick!! What a POS.

LINK

Cowboys cornerback Orlando Scandrick takes no prisoners during Madden game at children’s hospital

The Dallas Cowboys split up Tuesday to visit four area children’s hospitals, delivering gifts and spreading the holiday cheer.

The Cowboys’ twitter account had photos and the players were tweeting pictures during their visits. Everything appeared to be going smoothly, until the big bad bully that is Orlando Scandrick stepped in to play Madden.

It is custom for players of a professional sports team to play a video game with the children they are visiting. Dez Bryant was among the players who took the sticks to play Madden on Tuesday.

But when Scandrick had the controller, all bets were off – he was out to win at all costs.

Justin Durant tweet
"Scandrick played a kid in Madden at Children's Hospital and hit him wit a surprise onside"

Another Durant tweet
"He was winning and going for 2"

That’s right, Scandrick is a big ol’ Madden bully. You know, the guy who goes for two because “the odds show it’s smarter” then proceeds to pull an onside kick in hopes of burying his opponent. Only problem was he was playing a child. No reports on how the kid took the odd play calling by Scandrick.

Scandrick was surely just having some fun, with Justin Durant catching it all and tattling on his teammate.

Notice the reporter giving him the benefit of the doubt, saying he was "surely just having some fun." I'll even bet he was just having some fun, but there are other ways to go about having fun.

This is so ridiculous Dave Chappelle even did a sketch on it years before the fact....lol.

Dave Chappelle Beats Cancer Sorry for the crappy youtube sample, it was slim pickins'
 
Ed Werder ‏@Edwerderespn
Fracture @DeMarcoMurray suffered is to left hand. He primarily carries ball in right. But left used for stiff-arming, blocking, receiving.

Todd Archer ‏@toddarcher
DeMarco Murray 2 undergo surgery today 2 repair broken 4th metacarpal, according 2 source. Emmitt Smith had similar surgery, missed 1 game

Joe Trahan ‏@JoeTrahan
On his radio show Stephen Jones says DeMarco Murray has a broken bone in his hand and will need surgery - hopes he can play vs Colts.
 
Haven't really payed attention to the Cowboys this year. Have they had to play any games without Murray? Seems he may be the cog in that offenses that opens it up. Him finally being healthy this year seems to have made a difference in how they play.
 
Haven't really payed attention to the Cowboys this year. Have they had to play any games without Murray? Seems he may be the cog in that offenses that opens it up. Him finally being healthy this year seems to have made a difference in how they play.

He's been their game plan. 14 games, 351 carries, 25 cpg. Plus 54 receptions.

For contrast, in 14 games last year he had 217 carries.
 
Not sure if this should go here, make fun of the cowboys thread or its own thread.........




[IMGwidthsize=400]http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxNTA2/z/u9IAAOSw-W5Usw9J/$_57.JPG[/IMG]


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dallas-Cowboys-034-Refs-Must-Die-034-88-Dez-Bryant-Playoff-t-shirt-Black-100-cotton-/181638066599?ssPageName=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT

I don't know, but it's time to let it go. It is obvious to most that it was a horrible call and possibly a make up from the bad call a week ago. I'm beginning to think in the referee choices I would feel more comfortable with the worst of the worse than the best of the best or they all equal.

We could have won, perhaps, but at the same time with almost 4 minutes left, we could have still lost. Sometimes, it's just not your time. As a fan, I was pissed, had the big what if, but at the end of the day those decisions stand and we have to move on.
 
I don't know, but it's time to let it go. It is obvious to most that it was a horrible call and possibly a make up from the bad call a week ago. I'm beginning to think in the referee choices I would feel more comfortable with the worst of the worse than the best of the best or they all equal.

We could have won, perhaps, but at the same time with almost 4 minutes left, we could have still lost. Sometimes, it's just not your time. As a fan, I was pissed, had the big what if, but at the end of the day those decisions stand and we have to move on.

No, it was the correct call. Horrible rule? Quite possibly. Horrible call? Nope, they called it spot on according to the rule
 
No, it was the correct call. Horrible rule? Quite possibly. Horrible call? Nope, they called it spot on according to the rule


Also, why is no one flaming Dez? Dez should know this stupid rule. He should have secured the ball first, then make an attempt at the end zone. If he would have tucked the ball instead of trying to lunge at the goal line, I'm sure he would have retained possession. 1st & goal Cowboys.
 
Also, why is no one flaming Dez? Dez should know this stupid rule. He should have secured the ball first, then make an attempt at the end zone. If he would have tucked the ball instead of trying to lunge at the goal line, I'm sure he would have retained possession. 1st & goal Cowboys.

Can't really flame him for trying to make the biggest play he could. I've seen it happen more than a few times with him though. Trying to do a little too much breaking tackles and he fumbles it in the process. He needs to stop listening to Irvin and all that "baby playmaker" hype that he puts on him b/c he wears his number and just play solid smart ball. Stop trying to force the big plays and just let the big plays come to him.
 
Stop trying to force the big plays and just let the big plays come to him.

Valid point for many players, but Dez is a play maker and he will be going for the goal every chance he has. High risk, high reward type and I'm convinced he played a big part in helping to motivate some of the players to move beyond the settle for results.
 
Also, why is no one flaming Dez? Dez should know this stupid rule. He should have secured the ball first, then make an attempt at the end zone. If he would have tucked the ball instead of trying to lunge at the goal line, I'm sure he would have retained possession. 1st & goal Cowboys.

Because that criticism misunderstands the rule. If Dez had been deemed to have been extending the football to the goal line then it would have been a football move and a completion. That is what was ruled on the field. The review official decided he did not make an attempt to extend the ball to the goal line and therefore had not completed the pass by making a football move.

It's a call that could have gone either way on the field and either way it was ruled, shouldn't have been overturned.
 
Great news! Looking forward to news on signing Dez and Murray.

I guess I don't understand you Cowboy fans. Wade Phillips in 4 years goes 13-3, 9-7, 11-5, with 2 playoff appearances and 1 playoff win and then fired after a lot of help from Garret. The red headed demon child goes 8-8, 8-8, 8-8, 12-4 with one playoff win and you guys are good with extending his contract?
 
I guess I don't understand you Cowboy fans. Wade Phillips in 4 years goes 13-3, 9-7, 11-5, with 2 playoff appearances and 1 playoff win and then fired after a lot of help from Garret. The red headed demon child goes 8-8, 8-8, 8-8, 12-4 with one playoff win and you guys are good with extending his contract?

Short answer, yes.
 
Because that criticism misunderstands the rule. If Dez had been deemed to have been extending the football to the goal line then it would have been a football move and a completion. That is what was ruled on the field. The review official decided he did not make an attempt to extend the ball to the goal line and therefore had not completed the pass by making a football move.

It's a call that could have gone either way on the field and either way it was ruled, shouldn't have been overturned.

GAHG! I agree.
 
Because that criticism misunderstands the rule. If Dez had been deemed to have been extending the football to the goal line then it would have been a football move and a completion. That is what was ruled on the field. The review official decided he did not make an attempt to extend the ball to the goal line and therefore had not completed the pass by making a football move.

It's a call that could have gone either way on the field and either way it was ruled, shouldn't have been overturned.
Agree with the bolded
I don't think there was "Irrefutable Evidence" that...
a) after catching the ball, Dez did NOT make a "football move" in reaching for the goal line
or
b) that his knee wasn't already in contact with the turf when the ball came free from his hands (i.e., the ground cannot cause a fumble)

The reply guy screwed the pooch (as they said in the Right Stuff) by overturning the call on the field
:foottap:
 
Agree with the bolded
I don't think there was "Irrefutable Evidence" that...
a) after catching the ball, Dez did NOT make a "football move" in reaching for the goal line
or
b) that his knee wasn't already in contact with the turf when the ball came free from his hands (i.e., the ground cannot cause a fumble)

The reply guy screwed the pooch (as they said in the Right Stuff) by overturning the call on the field
:foottap:

The ball hits the ground and comes up out of his arms. Dez never had control. It was absolutely the right call.
 
The ball hits the ground and comes up out of his arms. Dez never had control. It was absolutely the right call.

That was AFTER he reached for the goal line. How does he stick the ball out to reach for the goal line without control of it?? And the ball came loose AFTER his knee hit the ground.
The play should have been over when his knee hit the ground with the ball in his hand. Ground cannot cause a fumble - or in this case an incompletion.
The replay guys screwed up.

I cannot believe I'm defending Cowboy play
 
I personally believe that Dez was extending for the goalline, therefore it was a football move and a completed pass.

HOWEVER

As someone mentioned before, if he had simply tucked the ball, the boys would have had 1st and goal. By extension I believe they would have had a great shot to win that game.

Dez took a risk and it didn't work out.
 
The ball hits the ground and comes up out of his arms. Dez never had control. It was absolutely the right call.

Agreed!

Logical Dreadhead: He made the grab in mid-air and fell backwards over the DB. He can SAY he had control of the ball (in that half a second) and was reaching for the goal line, but it LOOKED like he and the ball were falling at the same time and his hand was on back of it. The ball hit the ground with his hand on it and he fell on top of it and when he rolled over and unto his back and the ball which he'd NEVER SECURED bounced up and unto his chest where he finally secured it. It wasn't a catch and the replay officials saw what I saw a reciever who SHOULD HAVE pulled a ball INTO his body if he in fact HAD control of it rather than trying to be a hero. From the position they would have had a TD was as much of a gimme as the one they got in the first quarter as a result of the MYSTERY pass interference call on Greenbay. Catch NOT made...game LOST. Get OVER IT! Funny how you all loved the officials after they prison raped Detroit and were singing the "one call can't effect the outcome of a game" blues.

Dread-hater: :lol: (Singing) "Oh...happy...day..." :dread:
 
That was AFTER he reached for the goal line. How does he stick the ball out to reach for the goal line without control of it?? And the ball came loose AFTER his knee hit the ground.
The play should have been over when his knee hit the ground with the ball in his hand. Ground cannot cause a fumble - or in this case an incompletion.
The replay guys screwed up.

I cannot believe I'm defending Cowboy play

The rule is very clear on the subject. He has to maintain control in its entirety. He went to the ground and lost control of the football while attempting to make a football move. He never had complete control of the football when the ball hit the ground. The ground may not be able to cause a fumble but it cannot assist you in completing a pass either.

All it did was save us from seeing Rogers make another spectacular comeback and marching the Parkers down field. Wait, that would have been even more soul crushing for Cowboy fans. I was robed! I want to see that!
 
The rule is very clear on the subject. He has to maintain control in its entirety. He went to the ground and lost control of the football while attempting to make a football move. He never had complete control of the football when the ball hit the ground. The ground may not be able to cause a fumble but it cannot assist you in completing a pass either.

All it did was save us from seeing Rogers make another spectacular comeback and marching the Parkers down field. Wait, that would have been even more soul crushing for Cowboy fans. I was robed! I want to see that!

:sarcasm:


:popcorn: Okay...that...that was beautiful sarcasm. Well done sir and if I haven't stated this previously I don't agree with the Megatron rule, but I'm loving the IRONY that the Cowboys were defeated BY it after having benefitted from an obvious bad call the week before. In the words of Rodney Dangerfield in Caddy Shack "So let's DANCE!" :dread:
 
Ian Rapoport @RapSheet
#Cowboys and play-caller Scott Linehan have reached an agreement on a new contract, source said. He’s staying after an impressive 1st season

Needed to keep him.
 
The rule is very clear on the subject. He has to maintain control in its entirety. He went to the ground and lost control of the football while attempting to make a football move. He never had complete control of the football when the ball hit the ground. The ground may not be able to cause a fumble but it cannot assist you in completing a pass either.

All it did was save us from seeing Rogers make another spectacular comeback and marching the Parkers down field. Wait, that would have been even more soul crushing for Cowboy fans. I was robed! I want to see that!

I can't wait to see what you guys say when this happens to A.J. or D-Hop.
 
I can't wait to see what you guys say when this happens to A.J. or D-Hop.

I hate the rule. And if this happened to the Texans I would not be happy at all.

But by the rules of the NFL, that was absolutely not a catch. If we're playing in the backyard it's a catch. In high school it's a catch. In college it's probably even a catch.

But by the NFL rulebook it is not a catch. That is the fault of the rule, not the referee.
 
Agreed!

Logical Dreadhead: He made the grab in mid-air and fell backwards over the DB. He can SAY he had control of the ball (in that half a second) and was reaching for the goal line, but it LOOKED like he and the ball were falling at the same time and his hand was on back of it. The ball hit the ground with his hand on it and he fell on top of it and when he rolled over and unto his back and the ball which he'd NEVER SECURED bounced up and unto his chest where he finally secured it. It wasn't a catch and the replay officials saw what I saw a reciever who SHOULD HAVE pulled a ball INTO his body if he in fact HAD control of it rather than trying to be a hero. From the position they would have had a TD was as much of a gimme as the one they got in the first quarter as a result of the MYSTERY pass interference call on Greenbay. Catch NOT made...game LOST. Get OVER IT! Funny how you all loved the officials after they prison raped Detroit and were singing the "one call can't effect the outcome of a game" blues.

Dread-hater: :lol: (Singing) "Oh...happy...day..." :dread:

Ya know Dread, I have always found your posts entertaining, and this one is no exception. Someone beat me to posting my thoughts that if Andre Johnson, who is also a warrior, would have done the same thing the outcry would be pale in comparison to the Cowboys reaction. Some of the Texans fanatics probably would have found where the referee lived and provided a uniform burning message.

Belief it or not Stephen A. Smith is one of my favorite talk show hosts/co-host, and of course I don't like everything he has to say, I really respect what he says. I couldn't help but laugh when he said without question, that was a catch, but the bottom line is I don't care.

Above all, be nice because we are getting pretty good and 2017 is just around the corner. (all smiles)
 
IFWT_Dez.png

"Crackheads in my house, potato chips and peanut butter for dinner—my life was **** all the way to college."


Rolling Stone -- Dez Bryant: The Survivor
Deep poverty, family drama, mudslinging and power struggles: The trials and triumph of the Dallas Cowboys' most explosive star

Where Dez Bryant was raised, they call it the come-up — that Tupac-twisty climb from starveling to stardom, from rags-to-Rolls-Royce royalty. Bryant, whose first five years in the game stack up against any receivers in the Hall of Fame, is a one-of-a-kind wideout with length, strength and speed, a beauty-and-beast-mode cocktail of Randy Moss and Marshawn Lynch. A former first-team All-American whose draft stock cratered when he was suspended from playing in his junior year of college, Bryant has been a bargain for the Dallas Cowboys since they traded up to pick him late in the first round in the spring of 2010: two consecutive Pro Bowls, one All-Pro selection and a season for the ages last year.

This summer, he's pressing to finally get paid in a manner befitting his stats and rock-star station. He's retained Tom Condon, the premier agent in football, and signed with Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports to handle his contract talks with the Cowboys and broker his marketing deals; and he can't leave his house in suburban Dallas without being swarmed by selfie-seeking fans imploring him to please remain a Cowboy. Anywhere Bryant goes, they come from all directions, many or most of them female. Whatever they're drawn by, it's deeper than sex, though he's drop-dead-Denzel and he knows it. What they want, besides his baby, is to mother him, to make sure no one inflicts further harm on a man raised hip-deep in heartbreak. How do they know he's suffered? The way women have always known, whether it was Sam Cooke or Richard Pryor or Marvin Gaye who stood before them: They know a battered star-child when they see one.

But all that's behind him now, the pain and the poverty and not knowing when he'd eat next. The bad old days were charnel-house bad: a grandmother on crack and running the streets; his mother selling crack to raise her three kids, all of whom she'd had by 18; the stepmother's house with the lock on the fridge. Here was a kid largely raised by his brother, who also happened to be his uncle; who knocked on neighbors' doors to beg for food stamps; who shared a tiny duplex with more than a dozen people and slept wherever there was room for him on the floor. "Crackheads in my house, potato chips and peanut butter for dinner — my life was **** all the way to college," says Bryant. The news is decidedly better these days: His mother, Angela, has cleaned her act up and is stable and married (to a woman, as it turns out); his siblings avoided the snake pit of drugs and have never been to prison or rehab; and Bryant, at 26, has the world at his feet, after carrying it on his back since he could walk.

*As a kid, Dez had to steal his first set of pads, but soon after, he became a high school star.*

So why, sitting across from me at a plush hotel in Dallas, is he cartwheeling between outrage and wracking sobs, vowing to "show those motherfuckers who did me dirty"? Why is he so wounded by the bargaining machinations of reptilian Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who had refused to make him a five-year offer at the going rate for franchise wide receivers? And why is he spitting fire at the man who gave him refuge after he'd been booted out of Oklahoma State football in 2009, calling David Wells, a black businessman in Dallas and a longtime trusted proxy of the Cowboys, a "thief and a liar" who Bryant says ripped him off?

The answer is, it's football, which is as brutal off the field as anything you've ever seen on Sunday. Betrayal, race politics and a purported Walmart tape that may or may not depict a lurid crime: This one's the Super Bowl of player/owner battles, a midnight game of chicken between two bent-for-leather drivers, with the Cowboys' season hanging on the brink.

***

When you go back a decade and watch video clips of Bryant playing football in high school, what you see is a kid who, in every sense of the word, looked unstoppable in life. He wasn't just taller and tauter than those guarding him, with a condor's wingspan and an air-walker's way of taking the game three feet off the ground. He also had the knowledge — the impatient body wisdom — that he was going places the other kids weren't. It's there in every movement: the one-hand grabs; the whipsaw cuts after the catch. Even when he scores, it's clear he's just marking time. I'm ready for my close-up, Commissioner Goodell.

Ten years later, the stakes have changed, but Bryant's still a man against boys. At six feet two and 216 pounds, he's LeBron in cleats. The game's most productive wideout since 2012 (almost 4,000 yards total, and more touchdowns — by far — than any other receiver in the game), he's essentially become Dallas' passing attack. Simply put, he does what the greats have always done: makes the extraordinary look ordinary. And vice versa.

In truth, though, no one ever had it harder than Desmond D. Bryant coming up. His mother, the oldest of eight children by six fathers, was impregnated at 14 by her mother's boyfriend, MacArthur Hatton, who'd also sired two of Angela's siblings. Her...​
 
IFWT_Dez.png

"Crackheads in my house, potato chips and peanut butter for dinner—my life was **** all the way to college."


Rolling Stone -- Dez Bryant: The Survivor
Deep poverty, family drama, mudslinging and power struggles: The trials and triumph of the Dallas Cowboys' most explosive star

Where Dez Bryant was raised, they call it the come-up — that Tupac-twisty climb from starveling to stardom, from rags-to-Rolls-Royce royalty. Bryant, whose first five years in the game stack up against any receivers in the Hall of Fame, is a one-of-a-kind wideout with length, strength and speed, a beauty-and-beast-mode cocktail of Randy Moss and Marshawn Lynch. A former first-team All-American whose draft stock cratered when he was suspended from playing in his junior year of college, Bryant has been a bargain for the Dallas Cowboys since they traded up to pick him late in the first round in the spring of 2010: two consecutive Pro Bowls, one All-Pro selection and a season for the ages last year.

This summer, he's pressing to finally get paid in a manner befitting his stats and rock-star station. He's retained Tom Condon, the premier agent in football, and signed with Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports to handle his contract talks with the Cowboys and broker his marketing deals; and he can't leave his house in suburban Dallas without being swarmed by selfie-seeking fans imploring him to please remain a Cowboy. Anywhere Bryant goes, they come from all directions, many or most of them female. Whatever they're drawn by, it's deeper than sex, though he's drop-dead-Denzel and he knows it. What they want, besides his baby, is to mother him, to make sure no one inflicts further harm on a man raised hip-deep in heartbreak. How do they know he's suffered? The way women have always known, whether it was Sam Cooke or Richard Pryor or Marvin Gaye who stood before them: They know a battered star-child when they see one.

But all that's behind him now, the pain and the poverty and not knowing when he'd eat next. The bad old days were charnel-house bad: a grandmother on crack and running the streets; his mother selling crack to raise her three kids, all of whom she'd had by 18; the stepmother's house with the lock on the fridge. Here was a kid largely raised by his brother, who also happened to be his uncle; who knocked on neighbors' doors to beg for food stamps; who shared a tiny duplex with more than a dozen people and slept wherever there was room for him on the floor. "Crackheads in my house, potato chips and peanut butter for dinner — my life was **** all the way to college," says Bryant. The news is decidedly better these days: His mother, Angela, has cleaned her act up and is stable and married (to a woman, as it turns out); his siblings avoided the snake pit of drugs and have never been to prison or rehab; and Bryant, at 26, has the world at his feet, after carrying it on his back since he could walk.

*As a kid, Dez had to steal his first set of pads, but soon after, he became a high school star.*

So why, sitting across from me at a plush hotel in Dallas, is he cartwheeling between outrage and wracking sobs, vowing to "show those motherfuckers who did me dirty"? Why is he so wounded by the bargaining machinations of reptilian Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who had refused to make him a five-year offer at the going rate for franchise wide receivers? And why is he spitting fire at the man who gave him refuge after he'd been booted out of Oklahoma State football in 2009, calling David Wells, a black businessman in Dallas and a longtime trusted proxy of the Cowboys, a "thief and a liar" who Bryant says ripped him off?

The answer is, it's football, which is as brutal off the field as anything you've ever seen on Sunday. Betrayal, race politics and a purported Walmart tape that may or may not depict a lurid crime: This one's the Super Bowl of player/owner battles, a midnight game of chicken between two bent-for-leather drivers, with the Cowboys' season hanging on the brink.

***

When you go back a decade and watch video clips of Bryant playing football in high school, what you see is a kid who, in every sense of the word, looked unstoppable in life. He wasn't just taller and tauter than those guarding him, with a condor's wingspan and an air-walker's way of taking the game three feet off the ground. He also had the knowledge — the impatient body wisdom — that he was going places the other kids weren't. It's there in every movement: the one-hand grabs; the whipsaw cuts after the catch. Even when he scores, it's clear he's just marking time. I'm ready for my close-up, Commissioner Goodell.

Ten years later, the stakes have changed, but Bryant's still a man against boys. At six feet two and 216 pounds, he's LeBron in cleats. The game's most productive wideout since 2012 (almost 4,000 yards total, and more touchdowns — by far — than any other receiver in the game), he's essentially become Dallas' passing attack. Simply put, he does what the greats have always done: makes the extraordinary look ordinary. And vice versa.

In truth, though, no one ever had it harder than Desmond D. Bryant coming up. His mother, the oldest of eight children by six fathers, was impregnated at 14 by her mother's boyfriend, MacArthur Hatton, who'd also sired two of Angela's siblings. Her...​

That is a brutal childhood. Damn.
 
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