Saturday’s car accident that left Cowboys linebacker Jerry Brown dead and nose tackle Josh Brent jailed on an intoxication manslaughter charge has left the team stunned. But Cowboys linebacker Alex Albright, the only player who has spoken publicly about the incident, said the team will do what it can to cope.
“We have to go forward,” Albright told reporters at the team hotel in Cincinnati, via the Dallas Morning News. “You can’t really describe it. It’s difficult. You never expect anything like this to happen and then it does, we don’t really have any experience with this and we’re just trying to handle it the best we can.”
Brown had only been with the Cowboys since October 24 and didn’t know anyone on the team well other than Brent, who had been his close friend, teammate and roommate when the two played on the same defensive line at Illinois in 2007 and 2008. But Albright said Brown was well liked for the way he went about his business.
“I like Jerry a lot,” Albright said. “I got to know him in the past five weeks. He was a really quiet kid but the first couple of weeks he really opened up and coach pointed it out, he just came to work every day and never complained. I like Jerry a lot. It’s just tough.”
It’s an extraordinarily tough day for the Cowboys. And the second consecutive Sunday on which an NFL team will attempt to go forward from a tragedy, and win a football game.