Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant has admitted that he needs to control his emotions better after leaving the field with 1:21 left to play in Sunday's match against the Green Bay Packers.
The Cowboys blew a 23-point lead in the second half, eventually falling to a 37-36 defeat, and Bryant stormed into the locker room early after it became apparent that the Packers would take a knee to see the game out.
"First and foremost, let me start by saying that was not the right thing to do was to walk back in [the locker room]. I wasn't looking at it that way, how people are portraying it, how I looked, which I clearly understand," Bryant told reporters.
"Everybody in this locker room, they understand, they understood my frustration, losing like that, that's hard. I know I'm a very emotional player. I've always been that way. I got to do a better job of controlling my emotions.
"I feel like there was no way I could have sat there and watched them knee the ball and shake any one of those players' hands. Just because of the fashion of how we lost. And it was heartbreaking. It had nothing to do with my teammates. Nothing. Because I honestly felt like we played great, we just didn't finish."
The loss leaves the Cowboys at 7-7 for the season, one win behind the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC West with just two games to play.