Witten could set record on Sunday

Cowboys

end record of 102 in a season. Witten could get it Sunday at home against New Orleans (6-8).

“You know, we talked about him saying, ‘I’m playing in that Giants game,’ after he had the lacerated spleen, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘This guy’s crazy,’” Garrett said. “He wasn’t quite himself for probably three or four weeks after that. I think we all saw that. And then for him to kind of, ‘OK, I’m feeling better now’ and get back to what he’s been doing, I think he’s had a remarkable year.”

Witten turned 30 in May, and once he made it through that opener against New York, it was easy to forget about the injury as he stumbled through two more games and reached Week 4 with five drops, four penalties and eight catches. Too old already? Hall of Fame career nearing an end?

Hardly. In the past 11 games, he has 89 catches for 847 yards and two touchdowns, including his first scoring hookup with Tony Romo in last weekend’s 27-24 overtime win against Pittsburgh that put the Cowboys (8-6) in control of their playoff fate with two games left.

Witten reset his franchise record with 18 catches in a loss to the Giants in October, and a week later broke Michael Irvin’s career Cowboys record of 750 receptions. With 793 catches, Witten is likely this year to join Gonzalez and Shannon Sharpe as the only tight ends with 800, and he’s third behind those two with 8,832 yards. Gonzalez set the single-season mark for catches in 2004.

“I have so much respect for the game and this position,” Witten said. “To be able to be even thinking about passing that kind of record that’s stood the course for almost 10 years by the greatest tight end that ever played, to break that, no question it’s special. I think you’re more proud of the body of work over the course of 10 years than you are just one season.”

The Cowboys were just happy to have him on the field against the Giants, so some balky play and two catches for 10 yards didn’t faze anyone. He four had catches against the Seahawks, but had the same number of drops, then two catches again, this time for just 8 yards, against Tampa Bay.

Witten finally broke loose with 13 catches for 112 yards and a garbagetime touchdown from Kyle Orton in a blowout loss to the Bears.

“I’ve never thought, ‘Well, I’m about to taper off here, let’s see if I can hang on,’” Witten said. “It gets higher every year. And going into this year, that’s what it was.”