Was it, as Roy Williams denies, karma?
Or was it, as Jerry Jones suggests, Wade Phillips' fault?
Either way, the ankle injury suffered here in San Antonio Friday afternoon by rookie receiver Dez Bryant has yanked the momentum of Dallas Cowboys' training camp to a screeching halt. Super Bowl expectations remain entrenched, but when the best player in camp is suddenly in a walking boot there's no way around the removal of a little of the pizz out of the azz.
Williams scoffs at the suggestion that karma is a bitch, rolling his eyes when reporters ask if Bryant's ankle sprain that could keep him sidelined as much as six weeks was orchestrated by football gods unhappy with his dissin' of the long-upheld tradition of carrying a veteran's pads. But Jones wasn't scared to rock the boat, suggesting - ridiculously, I might add - that Bryant's injury might be a product of overuse.
Say what?
"The key thing is you ask yourself, 'Are we pushing him too hard; does it happen at the end of practice when the players are tired?' " Jones said Friday to ESPN's Chris Mortensen. "We all know now when you get a little tired you can get injured."
C'mon Jerry.
You can blame karma. You can blame backup quarterback Jon Kitna's off-target pass that allowed cornerback Orlando Scandrick time to catch up to Bryant and accidentally roll up on his legs. You can blame The Alamodome's field turf, which last year claimed four rookie draft choices and this year has Bryant and Sean Lee (thigh) on the sideline.
Yes Bryant's injury happened on the practice's second-to-last play, but you can't blame Phillips or the coaching staff, right?
If you're going to make that assinine of an assumption, maybe Jerry should point the finger at himself. Remember, the Cowboys break in San Antonio on Friday, play a pre-season game in Ohio on Sunday and then head to Oxnard to conclude training camp. By the time the September 12 opener gets here - for which Bryant will be ready to play in by the way - no team will have played more football than the Cowboys.
Quarterback Tony Romo already has a dead arm for crying out loud.
I asked one player Sunday night what he thought of the Cowboys' busy pre-season schedule:
"It's not about football," he grumbled. "It's about selling hats and T-shirts."