Jason Witten Quotes

You’ve got to be able to compete and play at a high level.

If you want to grow as a player, it takes commitment.

There’s an old saying in football – the circus doesn’t stay in town forever. The older you get, the more you realize there’s a deeper meaning. It’s better to leave 3 hours too soon than a minute too late.

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

I think any player would say that they want their coaches‘ respect, they want their teammates‘ respect, and they want their opponent to respect them.

We all want more money, it just doesn’t work that way.

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.

Every time an older player gets toward the end of their career, they’re always talking about ‘I feel better now than I did 10 years ago.’

It’s special to me, a privilege being a role model. I take pride in being a good one.

Those heartaches, those cries in your life that you go through, I thought that every kid goes through them. I knew I didn’t have much, but I didn’t know there was another side out there. I thought one present for Christmas was the way it is.

I have so much respect for this game and the process that goes into playing at a high level.

Fitting in with teammates has never been an issue for me. It’s always something that came very natural.

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 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.

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

A lot of guys I’ve seen in my career that played at a high level and were done, they moved on, never thought another day about it.

I’ve spent my entire adulthood in pro football.

We know it’s a young man‘s game.

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

There comes a point in every season for every team that you start to separate yourself, and you see the league do that every year.

I’m a steak and potato guy.

I have a deep desire to have success, to play a high level, and to win championships.

You want to be able to run seam routes and do all that, but to have something that you can hang your hat on and know that it’s going to convert first downs, that’s what tight ends are paid to do. And I’ve certainly taken a lot of pride in that over the years.

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.’

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.

Fortunately for me, my grandfather gave us a life I could never dream of. He was my high school football coach, my best friend, my school teacher – really my dad.

I believe in myself.

From minute one, I thought that after I called a game, I said ‘Man, I thought I would enjoy calling a game a little more than I probably did.’ I thought I would enjoy that part of it. I didn’t have the fulfillment that I thought I probably would.

There’s high expectations for Cowboys. There’s been some great quarterbacks who have come through that organization.

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 took pride in knowing, ‘Hey, my numbers may be down, but football guys know I’m playing at a high level.’

Excellence is a high performance over a long period of time. That’s what I’ve tried to focus on.

I am a gamer. I became a gamer since I had kids… much more than I used to be when I’d play ‘Madden‘ and ‘NCAA Football’ in high school and college.

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

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

The great ones hate to lose more than they love to win.

I don’t believe in moral victories. I don’t think in pro ball they exist, and they shouldn’t exist.

Granddad taught me a long time ago, act like you’ve been there before.

Ideally, if you ask most tight ends, they would say we want the defender on us early. The reason for that is we feel like, for one, we know where we’re going. Two, we can attack leverage, it declares itself if it’s truly man coverage. We can work the release.

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.

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.

Aaron Rodgers, he throws that back-shoulder throw so well.

When you call a game, it’s almost like you’re doing a three-hour movie and the production of it all, living in the moment in real time, the replays, all the intricacies that go into putting a game in a broadcast. It’s not just 100 percent football.

I’ve always felt like I know how much I’ve put into every offseason.

Look, I had a great experience in the booth. I saw a different perspective.

When you break a collarbone or do something like that, that’s out of your control.

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 work hard every day not only to be a success on the football field and a credit to my team – but to be a good husband, father, son, grandson, teammate – to be the kind of man that is as respected as Walter Payton was.