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Dez Bryant comes to Odell Beckham's defense

Frank Schwab
NFL writer

On one hand, you don’t expect a Dallas Cowboys player to publicly support someone from the New York Giants, their NFC East rival.

On the other, Dez Bryant coming to bat for Odell Beckham makes sense.

Beckham followed his Week 3 battle with the kicking net by ranting and raving against Minnesota Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes, who got in Beckham’s head. And it seemed to work. On “Monday Night Football” Beckham had probably the worst game of his NFL career, and armchair psychiatrists went to work.

Bryant might know better than anyone what Beckham is going through. Bryant has also been ripped for his fiery style, and whether you think his displays of emotion are a necessary part of his game or distracting to his team is up to you. Bryant tweeted a couple things Wednesday to let Beckham know he’s got his back.

And then a shout-out to Ray Lewis.

The two top receivers have a bond, perhaps because they play the game at a high level and both do so with their emotions on their sleeve. Before a Week 1 game, the two had a nice game of catch during pregame warmups.

There have been about a billion comments made about Beckham and his behavior already this week, and some seem to ring true. It’s obvious opponents are aware they can throw Beckham off his game with taunting or physical play, and Beckham doesn’t like it.

Bryant has dealt with many of the same criticisms through his career (and still is dealing with criticism). It shouldn’t be a surprise he wants to defend his fellow receiver going through the same thing now.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!