It's never easy going into the locker room of a losing NFL team after a close loss for postgame media availability with players working through frustration, among many other emotions. It was no different Sunday in the Bay Area after the Dallas Cowboys suffered their fourth straight loss to the San Francisco 49ers -- this time a 30-24 defeat.
Actually, the emotions were flowing before media was let into the Cowboys locker room as Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs walked out early to directly confront WFAA's Mike Leslie, a sports anchor and reporter for ABC's local Dallas affiliate. Leslie tweeted the following during the game when 49ers tight end George Kittle ripped off a 43-yard catch-and-run: "What is Trevon Diggs doing on this play?"
Leslie confirmed in a reply below the post that he was critiquing Diggs' hustle on the tail end of the play as Kittle rumbled down inside the 10. Diggs, still in his uniform -- shoulder pads and all -- must have seen the post on his phone right after the game because he marched out of the locker room and went right up to Leslie, who was gathered with other media members.
"From that whole play, that's what you took from that? You don't know football," Diggs said to Leslie. "You can't do nothing that I do. You can't go out there and do nothing. Stay in your lane, buddy. Stop playing with me, bro."
The reporter attempted to reply and continue the conversation with Diggs as he walked away.
"I'm just asking a question, Trevon," Leslie said. "I'm happy to have you answer the question."
Diggs returned and repeated some of his earlier comments before walking back into the locker room.
"Out of that whole play, that's what you got from that?" he asked rhetorically before cursing at the reporter.
Leslie continued questioning Diggs.
"We can talk about it more," he said as Diggs walked back toward the locker room. Diggs wasn't interested.
"We can talk about deez nuts," the cornerback said.
Leslie subsequently addressed the incident on social media.
"Trevon just came out of the locker room to approach me about this tweet," Leslie wrote. "He said I don't know football, and I can't do what he does. He and I are in agreement about that. He didn't offer an answer as to what he was doing on the play, however."
He also added this:
Once media members were allowed in the locker room, Diggs was still heated and ultimately decided not to speak with reporters.
Falling to 3-4 on the year with a fourth consecutive loss to San Francisco certainly has emotions running high on the Cowboys side of things. They'll have a chance to return to .500 when they head to Atlanta to take on the NFC South-leading Falcons (5-3) in Week 9.