The Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys each had controversial endings to their season openers, and only one team came away with a victory.
As a result, the Bears will be trying to get off to their best start since 2006, while the Cowboys look to avoid opening 0-2 for the first time in nine years Sunday at Cowboys Stadium.
noneWhile the Dallas Cowboys are the defending NFC East champions, the new-look Washington Redskins have garnered much more of the headlines in the offseason.
The Redskins brought in six-time Pro Bowl selection Donovan McNabb as well as Mike Shanahan, but it’s the new coach’s feud with disgruntled tackle Albert Haynesworth that has overshadowed the start of the season and tempered some of the enthusiasm for the once-proud franchise.
McNabb and Shanahan will make their Redskins debuts, and it’s unclear whether Haynesworth will see action – or even be in uniform – on Sunday night at FedEx Field against the Cowboys, who have aspirations of reaching the Super Bowl they are hosting.
noneMiami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland apologized to Dallas Cowboys first-round draft pick Dez Bryant on Tuesday for asking during a pre-draft visit whether his mother was a prostitute.
David Wells, Bryant’s adviser, told ESPNDallas.com Tuesday that the former Oklahoma State wide receiver was asked about his mother during a visit to the Dolphins in March, prior to the NFL draft.
Yahoo! Sports, which was first to report the story, also revealed that it was Ireland who asked the question of Bryant.
Wells and Bryant declined further comment.
“My job is to find out as much information as possible about a player that I’m considering drafting. Sometimes that leads to asking in-depth questions,” Ireland said Tuesday in a statement released by the Dolphins. “Having said that, I talked to Dez Bryant and told him I used poor judgment in one of the questions I asked him. I certainly meant no disrespect and apologized to him.”
Ireland received permission from the Cowboys’ front office Tuesday to speak with Bryant.
Yahoo! Sports reported that during one of his pre-draft visits, Bryant was asked by a high-level executive of one NFL franchise — during an extensive conversation about Bryant’s past — whether his mother, Angela, was a prostitute.
“No, my mom is not a prostitute,” Bryant told Yahoo! Sports. “I got mad — really mad — but I didn’t show it. I got a lot of questions like that: Does she still do drugs? I sat and answered all of them.”
The background of Bryant and his mother was widely reported prior to the draft. Angela was only 15 when Dez was born, and she served time in jail for selling crack cocaine.
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