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IRVING, Texas -- On Monday, Jason Witten became the 12th player in NFL history to record 1,000 catches in a career.
He is just the second tight end to reach that mark, joining Tony Gonzalez.
Over Witten's 13-year career, 10 quarterbacks have completed a pass to him, from Tony Romo (649 passes, 7,287 yards) to Brad Johnson (seven passes, 52 yards).
Here are the quarterbacks' thoughts on what it has been like to be Witten's teammate.
QUINCY CARTER
"I had a special relationship with him because he was a rookie learning the ropes and everything when I played with him in '03. I remember we had a talk, I think, after like the eighth or ninth game and he might've had 15 catches [actually eight] up until then and I told him, 'Hey, they're going to play Cover 2 against us because we're having some success with Terry Glenn, Antonio [Bryant] and Joey [Galloway] outside.' I said, 'I'm going to need you coming down the stretch.' And I think he ended up with like 30 catches [actually 27].
"One play stands out and has to be the Arizona game. He caught a ball and his jaw broke. But he came up with the catch, too. I wasn't supposed to throw it to him. I thought he was 'hot' by the look when they brought two guys off the edge. I threw it in between two guys and he got his jaw broke. He didn't miss a beat. Didn't miss a beat.
"He's not eating food for six weeks and they wired up his mouth. He was going out there only having shakes. That dude. He came in and he was practically a leader then or one of the people you looked up to about halfway through the season because of what he did after he got his jaw broke.
"That dude, that's one of my favorite teammates ever. I'm talking high school, college, in the NFL. Just a hard-nosed guy that was born to play football."
VINNY TESTAVERDE
(2004: 87 catches, 890 yards, six touchdowns)
"When I got there I'm talking with Parcells and I was asking Bill about the different personnel we had and he was really high on Jason at the time. He told me, 'Make sure you're giving this tight end a look. He's going to be good for you.' The game plans we came up with each week, he was involved in them and he was a big part of that. You always tried to get him the football because he's an intelligent player. He was a great route runner, even in his second year. He was what I call 'quarterback friendly' in that he runs his routes at the right depth all the time. Some guys just aren't quarterback friendly. They don't understand the softness of zones or if it's man-to-man. Jason got all that as a young player and he certainly continues to do that over his career.
"Bill likes tough, smart, physical football players, and Jason's all of that. And he had a great attitude. Great teammate. Great person off the field. What's not to like about Jason Witten?
"There's one funny story I think of. It's my first game and we're walking out of the tunnel at Texas Stadium and I'm with Jason. I start naming plays and I'm like, 'I know what to do on that Texas route. I know what to do on this audible, but tell me one thing: What side of the field is our bench on?' He started laughing. Here's the rookie basically telling the veteran where to go. When I see him we always chuckle about that."
DREW BLEDSOE
(2005-06: 82 catches, 922 yards, six touchdowns)
"He's just consistent with everything he did. He was just always open. When he ended up being open, he caught the ball for us. Just extremely reliable on every play. The cool thing with Jason, much like Ben Coates was in New England for me, he's a great receiving weapon but he's a true tight end. He really blocks in the running game. He blocks in the pass game when he needs to but he's also a weapon down the field. A lot of these guys end up catching for big numbers. They play tight end but that's kind of in quotation marks. They're more just receivers, whereas Jason is a true tight end. He was very polished. He seemed like he was much older and more experienced than just a third-year guy at that point. He's somebody that's always where he's supposed to be. He seemed much more like a veteran guy even then.
"There was a seam ball he caught against the Chiefs for a touchdown. That was pretty cool. I forget who the safety was but he covered him as well as he possibly could be covered but Jason has such unique hands that you're able to throw it over the top of a guy and he will pull it in. I remember the reaction of the defensive back was one of disbelief. Like, 'I just can't cover it any better.'
"What he's done is a real testament to his training and his work ethic ... particularly playing the position he plays where you take so much punishment. That's not something you can do that long without being extremely diligent in how you train, take care of your body and all the work that goes into it."
Continue reading at
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14321543
He is just the second tight end to reach that mark, joining Tony Gonzalez.
Over Witten's 13-year career, 10 quarterbacks have completed a pass to him, from Tony Romo (649 passes, 7,287 yards) to Brad Johnson (seven passes, 52 yards).
Here are the quarterbacks' thoughts on what it has been like to be Witten's teammate.
QUINCY CARTER
"I had a special relationship with him because he was a rookie learning the ropes and everything when I played with him in '03. I remember we had a talk, I think, after like the eighth or ninth game and he might've had 15 catches [actually eight] up until then and I told him, 'Hey, they're going to play Cover 2 against us because we're having some success with Terry Glenn, Antonio [Bryant] and Joey [Galloway] outside.' I said, 'I'm going to need you coming down the stretch.' And I think he ended up with like 30 catches [actually 27].
"One play stands out and has to be the Arizona game. He caught a ball and his jaw broke. But he came up with the catch, too. I wasn't supposed to throw it to him. I thought he was 'hot' by the look when they brought two guys off the edge. I threw it in between two guys and he got his jaw broke. He didn't miss a beat. Didn't miss a beat.
"He's not eating food for six weeks and they wired up his mouth. He was going out there only having shakes. That dude. He came in and he was practically a leader then or one of the people you looked up to about halfway through the season because of what he did after he got his jaw broke.
"That dude, that's one of my favorite teammates ever. I'm talking high school, college, in the NFL. Just a hard-nosed guy that was born to play football."
VINNY TESTAVERDE
(2004: 87 catches, 890 yards, six touchdowns)
"When I got there I'm talking with Parcells and I was asking Bill about the different personnel we had and he was really high on Jason at the time. He told me, 'Make sure you're giving this tight end a look. He's going to be good for you.' The game plans we came up with each week, he was involved in them and he was a big part of that. You always tried to get him the football because he's an intelligent player. He was a great route runner, even in his second year. He was what I call 'quarterback friendly' in that he runs his routes at the right depth all the time. Some guys just aren't quarterback friendly. They don't understand the softness of zones or if it's man-to-man. Jason got all that as a young player and he certainly continues to do that over his career.
"Bill likes tough, smart, physical football players, and Jason's all of that. And he had a great attitude. Great teammate. Great person off the field. What's not to like about Jason Witten?
"There's one funny story I think of. It's my first game and we're walking out of the tunnel at Texas Stadium and I'm with Jason. I start naming plays and I'm like, 'I know what to do on that Texas route. I know what to do on this audible, but tell me one thing: What side of the field is our bench on?' He started laughing. Here's the rookie basically telling the veteran where to go. When I see him we always chuckle about that."
DREW BLEDSOE
(2005-06: 82 catches, 922 yards, six touchdowns)
"He's just consistent with everything he did. He was just always open. When he ended up being open, he caught the ball for us. Just extremely reliable on every play. The cool thing with Jason, much like Ben Coates was in New England for me, he's a great receiving weapon but he's a true tight end. He really blocks in the running game. He blocks in the pass game when he needs to but he's also a weapon down the field. A lot of these guys end up catching for big numbers. They play tight end but that's kind of in quotation marks. They're more just receivers, whereas Jason is a true tight end. He was very polished. He seemed like he was much older and more experienced than just a third-year guy at that point. He's somebody that's always where he's supposed to be. He seemed much more like a veteran guy even then.
"There was a seam ball he caught against the Chiefs for a touchdown. That was pretty cool. I forget who the safety was but he covered him as well as he possibly could be covered but Jason has such unique hands that you're able to throw it over the top of a guy and he will pull it in. I remember the reaction of the defensive back was one of disbelief. Like, 'I just can't cover it any better.'
"What he's done is a real testament to his training and his work ethic ... particularly playing the position he plays where you take so much punishment. That's not something you can do that long without being extremely diligent in how you train, take care of your body and all the work that goes into it."
Continue reading at
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14321543
