Well, I'm not saying they have to tolerate it. I think the fine was appropriate. And if the behavior continues, those would escalate and could, theoretically, affect his snaps. By all accounts Dez is not a stranger to fines from the Cowboys, anyway.
As far as covering for him goes, they were trying to keep the story in-house because there'd be a reaction to it, sure. This way, it came out a day later once they had the results. That's just a PR issue.
As far as the distraction goes, I guess it depends in part on Dez' motivation in missing on Tues. If he's spitting in the face of the coaches, it's one thing. But it don't think for a second it was that. If it's Dez just not getting himself somewhere offsite when he's supposed to or Dez not going because he'd made up his mind to play anyway and didn't want to hear otherwise (both of which I think are fairly likely possibilities), it's not really going to be a distraction or a negative with his teammates at all. In the first case it really is just Dez being Dez. In the second, it'd be more likely to be taken as a positive than a negative.
Either way, it's the kind of thing teams sweep under carpets with their star players routinely. Something less than stabbing with scissors and something more than forgetting to bring your playbook to a meeting.
Injured players are required to report on Mondays, it sounds like he blew off both Monday and Tuesday.
If the reports are true that his teammates were leaking what was going on, I would believe the motivation was that they were pissed about his behavior. If Dak was sending a message to him with his comments, again I would think it was because he thought it was a problem.
I think his motivation for doing what he did is irrelevant, if he did not do what he was suppose to do and his teammates see it as a problem then it is a problem.
I don't see anyway it can be viewed as a positive.
As far as being a PR issue as the reason to cover for him, I would have just answered the question that he had not shown up for the MRI. Then Dez would have had to stand in front of his locker and answer all sorts of question to reporters, why did you not show up, aren't you letting down your teammates down by doing that etc. Let him feel the pain and put players on notice by doing it to a star that you are not going to cover for them.
Again I don't think you can change behavior unless you try.
Do I think this one incident is a huge issue that will have ramifications for weeks, no I do not. To me it is more about sending a message you are going to hold players accountable to their teammates.
If Dak said what he said to send a message to Dez, then I think our rookie QB is showing more leadership then our head coach, which in one respect is pretty cool.
I am not a Dez hater, I root for the guy and would like to see he become what I think he can be for this team.
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