ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -Jason Witten caught the short pass, turned and rambled down the field for a 44-yard gain. So much for the sprained left foot that had created uncertainty about whether the Pro Bowl tight end would even play.
Instead, Witten had another 100-yard receiving game on Thanksgiving Day for the Dallas Cowboys.
Four days after getting hurt in the last game, Witten caught five passes for 107 yards. He had three plays of at least 21 yards in his first 100-yard game since last Thanksgiving – 15 games ago. His longest play since December 2007 came on the Cowboys’ first snap of the fourth quarter and set up Dallas’ final touchdown in a 24-7 victory over the Oakland Raiders.
“I don’t want to be made out to be some tough guy or anything like that,” Witten said. “It’s just play football. That’s what I do. I knew if I could go, I was going to take advantage of that opportunity. And I hope everybody else would do the same thing.”
jaw that required surgery. Even then, he missed only that one game.
Even after daily treatments, Witten didn’t know for sure until Thursday that he would be in the lineup, though he had done his best all week to convince coach Wade Phillips and the trainers that he would be ready to play.
“He was playing, I told him he was playing,” said quarterback Tony Romo, who played with soreness in his back from the last game.
Witten got hurt in the first half of Sunday’s 7-6 victory over Washington, but stayed in that game and had two catches on the game-winning touchdown drive late in the game.
“You can’t talk about him enough,” Romo said. “He’s as good a teammate as I’ve been around. He’s as good a player, we’re lucky to have him. … Being a quarterback in this league, I’m lucky to have him.”
After having only a 21-yard catch before halftime, Witten had a 37-yard gain on the Cowboys’ first play of the third quarter. That was his longest this season, until his catch-and-run in the fourth.
“Witten is the man,” said Miles Austin, who led the Cowboys with seven catches for 145 yards. “You can’t say nothing but great things about Witten.”
It was Witten’s ninth career 100-yard game, the first since having nine catches for 115 yards against Seattle last Thanksgiving. He had averaged 5 1/2 catches and 52 yards in the 14 games since then.
Now he gets some extra time to rest his foot, with a three-day weekend before the Cowboys resume practice Monday.
“It’s a little sore,” he said. “But it will be OK.”
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