Jason Garrett to talk to Dez Bryant

— -- IRVING, Texas -- There was only one man in the Dallas Cowboys' locker room late Monday afternoon: Dez Bryant.

The Cowboys wide receiver offered a third apology to reporters for his actions after leaving the field with 1:21 to play in the fourth quarter of a 37-36 loss to the Green Bay Packers.

Bryant apologized on Twitter Sunday night while making an appearance at a children's hospital and during a 15-minute chat with reporters at Valley Ranch.

"First and foremost, let me start by saying that was not the right thing to do was to walk back in [the locker room]," Bryant said in front of a gaggle of reporters surrounding his locker. "I wasn't looking at it that way, how people are portraying it, how I looked, which I clearly understand. Everybody in this locker room, they understand, they understood my frustration, losing like that, that's hard.

"I know I'm a very emotional player. I've always been that way. I got to do a better job of controlling my emotions. I feel like there was no way I could have sat there and watched them knee the ball and shake any one of those players' hands. Just because of the fashion of how we lost. And it was heartbreaking. It had nothing to do with my teammates. Nothing. Because I honestly felt like we played great, we just didn't finish."

Bryant said he wasn't punished by team officials and coach Jason Garrett spoke to his star receiver about not doing it again.

"He understood me, but at the same time, basically like what y'all said, it's how people will look at it," Bryant said. "Like I said, nobody in this locker room, nobody in this organization had any problem because they know what kind of guy I am."

When quarterback Tony Romo threw his second interception of the fourth quarter, game officials reviewed the pick by Tramon Williams. After the interception was confirmed Bryant walked to the locker room.

Bryant said he didn't want to start crying on the sidelines because he was so upset as the reason why he left the field.

"I just addressed it with him dead on," Garrett said of the discussion with Bryant. "Dez is a fantastic football player and he's a fantastic young man. He loves playing the game of football. He plays it with a tremendous amount of passion and emotion. He has a great deal of passion and emotion for our football team and his teammates. He was frustrated at the end of that ballgame. He said 'Coach, I just couldn't handle it when I saw those guys in our stadium taking a knee in a game we should have won.' He said, 'I don't want to do something stupid with everybody watching so I wanted to remove myself from that situation.'

"I certainly understood that and explained to him why it's important not to do that in the future. We all have that same kind of investment in that ballgame, it's difficult for everybody when things don't go well and he needs to understand how to handle that. I think he'll handle that better in the future. He was very apologetic to me and was concerned about the situation. Again, we'll handle it the right way next time."

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones acknowledged Tuesday that he did not see Bryant leaving the sideline.

"I had just walked down and saw Dez as he walked into the dressing room," Jones said Tuesday morning on 105.3 The Fan Dallas-Ft. Worth. "He was very distraught ... he was just trying, to some degree, and be mature and not have his emotions, which he was very emotional, be as public as they can be where we have our bench located.

"So, I saw what he was doing -- he shouldn't do that. He knows that, he's apologized for that. Everybody has talked to him about not doing that anymore, that it creates a bad perception. He knows that. I don't expect him to do it again."

It's the second time this season Bryant has made headlines for his actions on the sideline, following outbursts at Romo and tight end Jason Witten that were caught on camera during a loss to the Detroit Lions in October, a game in which Dallas blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead.

Video released during the week after that game of Bryant's interactions with Romo seemed to indicate the receiver was trying to encourage the quarterback, not berate him. Bryant later acknowledged that Witten and then-inactive defensive end DeMarcus Ware were trying to calm him down and get him to focus on the Cowboys' final desperation play, saying they acted appropriately as leaders.

Bryant admits he's trying to juggle being professional and passionate.

"I think handling everything," Bryant said. "I have not been doing that. Handling my emotions and all that kind of stuff professional. I can 100 percent agree to that. But I'll be so tuned into the game, so focused on the game. Not caring about cameras. I don't care, have not been caring about who's looking. I'm a football guy. I don't care about the stuff that comes with football. I just love the game and sometimes I need to understand and do a better job, it's hard times, which I know that, but basically just handling those hard times."