ARLINGTON, Texas – On Thursday, rookie safety Ahmad Dixon tweeted out the word "Cleared" to signify the Cowboys had medically cleared him to practice and play after suffering a concussion in the previous game against San Diego.
On Friday morning, Dixon was seen running from his hotel room to the equipment room a few minutes after the team had already began its walk-through practice, the final on-field event of training camp. Once Dixon got suited up and arrived on the field, he was sent back to the locker room by the coaches.
On Saturday, he was dressed and ready to play, but was told before kickoff he would not be participating.
"He didn't play because it was a coach's decision," head coach Jason Garrett said. "Well he didn't practice all week because of the concussion he was dealing with from last week's game. We had intentions of playing him, but you have to handle your business. You have to be somebody we can trust and hopefully he'll learn from this experience."
Dixon, a seventh-round pick from Baylor, said there's no one to blame but himself. [embedded_ad]
"I'm disappointed that I made a poor decision," Dixon said. "Nothing against the coaches, nothing against nobody else. I take full responsibility for what I did wrong. That's all it is."
Dixon said more than being told to go back inside, letting down his teammates was a worse feeling.
"The worst part is not being out there with my brothers, my teammates – the guys fighting with me every single day," Dixon said. "That's the worst part and something I have to deal with. I've never missed a game in my life, other than an injury, which happened once. This is something I'll beat myself up from. You live and learn from it."
Dixon was coming off an impressive debut last Thursday when flew around the field, making a game-high 12 tackles in San Diego before suffering a fourth-quarter concussion.
With Dixon out, the Cowboys got to see more from second-year pro Jakar Hamilton, who missed last week's game with a concussion. Jeff Heath also played deep into the fourth quarter as well.
"All I can do now is learn from this and move forward," Dixon said. "I'm going to go out, have a great week of practice and get ready for the next game and help us get better."
