Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant caught four passes for 59 yards in Sunday’s 27-24 overtime win over the Steelers, including a key 24-yard touchdown in the third quarter, despite playing with a finger injury that will require surgery after the season.
It was clear during the game that Bryant’s finger was limiting him, especially on a third down play late in the fourth quarter when Bryant couldn’t come up with a pass from Tony Romo. After the contest, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that the wideout will likely need a bone graft to repair the injury and made a suggestion about where doctors will find the necessary bone tissue.
“Dez is going to have, more than likely, bone taken off his hip and put into that index finger joint,” Jones said, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “It is a fracture, but it’s not a ligament [injury]. Make no mistake, he has a serious injury. He certainly is playing with some risks, but he was inspirational out there to everybody involved in this organization.”
Bryant expressed some surprise at Jones’ suggestion that the bone tissue would be taken from his hip as opposed to a frozen bone provided by a donor before emphatically saying that his hip wouldn’t be touched.
“Well, if he wasn’t kidding, I’m also not playing neither,” Bryant said. “Nobody touching my hip. I’m telling you right now. You can get a piece of bone from somebody else. You’re not touching my hip.”
Wherever Bryant winds up getting the bone tissue, the Cowboys are certainly fortunate that he’s putting off the operation until after the season. His play helped them win on Sunday, leaving them in control of their own destiny in the NFC East with two games to play.
