Every fan has that one player that they just love to watch play. For most, that player plays for their favorite team, but for others sometimes they don’t have to play for their favorite team.
For example, I am one of those fans who can root for individual players to have success without bringing into question the support for my own team.
Throughout the years of my sports fandom, I have found myself rooting for the Raiders solely because they were the first team I played for when I started playing PeeWee Football in the 4th grade.
Back then I cheered for Rich Gannon, Napoleon Kaufman, Tim Brown, and even a late-career pitstop in Oakland by the great Jerry Rice.
More recently, I’ve been a Peyton Manning fan. I was always fascinated by his command of the offense and the fact that he was basically his own offensive coordinator. It took me a few years, but I also gained that same respect and admiration for Tom Brady.
I enjoyed when Michael Vick took the league by storm with his legs, yet still had the ability to fire the ball 70 yards down the field for an awaiting Peerless Price or Brian Finneran.
For my Dallas Cowboys, the player I admire the most on defense and from a leadership and professional standpoint is Darren Woodson. On the offensive side, it’s Dez Bryant and that’s who we will be talking about today.
Bryant had a short but explosive career with the Cowboys and I want to list my top three moments that I find the most impactful during his time with the team.
The Dez vs Calvin Johnson Game
This game is more well-known for the fact that Detroit’s Calvin Johnson caught 14 passes for 329 yards and a touchdown. He destroyed defensive backs Brandon Carr and Orlando Scandrick to earn that stat line.
The worst part about it is that Dez Bryant himself challenged Johnson the week leading up to the game. Dez played well but not nearly enough to match Megatron’s efforts.
Detroit did a good job of limiting Bryant’s production as well as Tony Romo’s. Dallas scored 30 point on the day, but Romo was just 14/30 for 206 yards. Bryant hauled in just three of those 14 completions, but scored on two of them and they were equally impressive.
With time winding down in the 1st half, Dallas found themselves trailing 7-3 with the ball inside the Lions’ five yard line. The call was a fade to Dez and he didn’t disappoint.
Even though he had two players draped over him, Bryant was able to trap the football to the top of his shoulder pad with just one hand and get his feet down for the touchdown.
Later in the game, Dez took a short pass on the left sideline, made defenders miss, and raced 50 yards to the endzone to give the Cowboys a 27-17 lead with less than seven minutes left in the game.
Dallas would lose 31-30 on a last-second fake spike dive into the endzone by Matthew Stafford, but this game featured two of my favorite Dez Bryant moments.
Dez Clips the Eagles’ Wings
One of my favorite Dez Bryant moments was actually an entire game of dominating Bradley Fletcher and the Eagles’ secondary.
Dez scored three touchdowns in an important December game in Philadephia with serious divisional and playoff implications. Both teams entered the Sunday Night Football matchup with 9-4 records, the winner leading the NFC East afterwards.
Jason Garrett and Tony Romo did their homework before the game, recognizing that Eagles’ CB Bradley Fletcher was no match for Dez.
Dallas dominated from the start, jumping out to a 21-0 lead early in the 2nd quarter powered by a short run by RB DeMarco Murray followed by two touchdown receptions by Dez.
All three of Dez’s scores came on the right side of the formation on vertical routes, and all three were with Fletcher in coverage.
The first was a four-yard fade route where Dez snatched the ball from over Fletcher’s head. The next two (the last one sealing the victory) were from 26 and 25 yards out, respectively.
It was one of the most dominating offensive performances versus one of our most-hated rivals, and the game situation made it even sweeter.
Dez’s Punt Return versus New York
Growing up and getting into football in the early 90s was a blessing because I got to see the Deion Sanders era of Cowboys’ football.
There was nothing more exciting to me than when Deion would randomly line up on the field to receive a punt. We never knew when it was going to happen and it seemed it was just how he felt that day, but the anticipation was exciting.
He had the potential to return every kick for a touchdown but somehow made even the short gains exciting. Dez had this same effect for me when he started returning punts his rookie season in 2010.
Dez returned two punts for a touchdown in his career and they both come together for my favorite Dez Bryant moments.
Here is some trivia for you. What was Dez Bryant’s first NFL touchdown? If you guessed a punt return I still won’t give you credit for the answer because I led you right to it. Just kidding, readers. But yes, his first NFL touchdown came on a punt return versus the Bears.
It was a short, line-drive kick that Dez fielded on the run. The kick was fielded near the sideline, and it appeared the Bears felt content with letting Bryant run out of bounds but he never did. After weaving through defenders a bit, Dez sped past the punter for the score from 62 yards out.
The only other punt return for touchdown in his career came a few short weeks later in a Monday Night Football loss to the hated New York Giants.
Bryant fielded a deep punt inside his own 10-yard line and went to work. Weaving in and out of defenders, Bryant sprinted 93 yards for the second-longest punt return for a touchdown in franchise history.
Those three games culminate my favorite Dez Bryant moments. I’d love to hear what moments you readers remember as your favorites. Don’t be shy. Drop them in the comments.