Quotes from Jason Witten

I'm going to be humble, I'm going to be accountable, do it with a smile on my face, make other people around me better.

Head coach is the leader. He's the guy that sets the tone for the whole organization as far as the structure of the football side of things.

I think Tony Gonzalez always set the standard. He was the guy that, I think for all of us, when I came in that was really kinda taking this league over as the tight end position. I think Shannon Sharpe was another one.

It's pretty cool to play against your idol.

If you're in the NFL for more than five minutes you see that you can be here today and gone tomorrow. That's why I played the way I did. I think that's why I worked hard to not miss a game, fight through injuries and all that stuff because when it's gone, it's gone.

When I've had injuries where there's nothing structurally wrong and I know it's just about gutting through? I have the ability to say, 'Get better. I'm good.'

You want to fight for everything you can get, every yard, every drive, every opportunity that you have.

Early on, yeah, my life was a bit of a roller coaster.

The mental focus it takes to compete against the best players in the world is not easy to maintain. Developing mental toughness is a learned trait, and if you can't develop it in your pursuit of success, you likely won't last in any competitive line of work for more than a cup of coffee.

So much is made of catches and doing all of that. But inside a team, the things you remember are the moments when nobody thinks you can do it and you try to rally your team and try to add some inspiration for them.

Yeah, I probably talk a little bit of trash.

Every time you go out, you want to help your team, play your best and don't let any opportunities slide by.

The Cowboys have done a good job at developing young players.

The things I learned early on from my granddad, the things he instilled in me, are still to this day a huge part and a huge priority of my own life. Even the little stuff like my granddad always telling me to tuck in my shirt at church. It sticks with you.

I have 16 years in Dallas. I would love finish it off there. But I also understand and am not naive enough to think that... it may need to be somewhere else. I think that's how this business works. So you have to be open to that idea, for sure.

We all get motivated differently and I think as you get older, you'd be foolish not to draw on your experiences from the past.

I think you've got to have an unbelievable amount of passion and love for the game, even though it's a job and there's a lot of things that go on in the business side of it.

He could rush the passer, he could bull you, he could beat you speed inside and quickness. Those are long days when you had Michael Strahan lining up right over your head for 60 minutes, because most defensive ends are good at one or the other. Michael was really good at both.

I love to play football. And I think anybody that's ever been my teammate or I've been theirs understands how much I love that.

When a new coaching staff comes in, there are a lot of changes that happen with that.

I always say that I continue to set the standard really high for myself, but you don't get into a catch count or any of that stuff. I think it's just in how you play, how you approach the game.

I'm a steak and potato guy.

You have to be able to recognize the value of the people around you.

My career has been defined, in a good way, on the option route. And a lot of times, it's a bang-bang play. It's a great play because it can convert first downs. But at the same time, you don't get a lot of those opportunities in the open field.