Garrett said the team had indirect conversations with Bryant, but he did not elaborate how. The coach also did not answer whether Bryant would be fined for his absences, other than to say there would be "repercussions" and that Bryant was "completely well intended" in his actions.
"He's a very, very passionate person. He loves football. He loves this team. He's a driven guy and his response to this was not the right one," Garrett said. "It was an understandable response given his personality and everything he puts into this.
"He's an emotional person and he didn't handle it the right way. What we have to do as a team is we have to handle it the right way. We understand where he was coming from and then we address it, we solve it, we move on. That's how we handle things here. And that's what we've done."
Bryant suffered the injury Sunday when his knee and ankle got caught under Bears linebacker Christian Jones during a tackle on the second play of the game from scrimmage. He had X-rays after the game and, according to Garrett, received information that had him suspecting "it was a serious injury."
Jason Garrett said Dez Bryant missed treatment, an MRI appointment and meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday because he was fearful about bad news concerning his leg injury. Said Garrett: "He's an emotional person and he didn't handle it the right way." AP
The frustration of possibly missing significant time for the second straight year was apparently too much.
"It stems from someone who is very passionate about what he does, and he did not handle this the right way," Garrett said. "He expressed that to me. He expressed that to other coaches and teammates. You can understand why he did what he did, given the passion that he has for the game and for this football team and where he thought he was.
"I'm not excusing any behavior that he has. We address it. We solve it. We move on. There are repercussions for his action, and we move forward."