Romo, Witten seeking elusive first title

Associated Press

OXNARD, Calif.

Tony Romo crouches to give his little son Hawkins instructions on running a pass route while Jason Witten carries one of his kids nearby, surrounded by autograph seekers.

This is the training camp tradition after practice these days for one of the best quarterback-tight end combinations in NFL history, and the steady force in the Dallas offense for nearly a decade.

Their desire to win a Super Bowl hasn’t changed since Romo and Witten came into the league together 12 years ago, or from when Romo became a starter three years later. But their appreciation for how difficult it is to win a title has grown, along with the friendship that formed through the disappointments in trying.

“When you are competitors like we are and you’ve gone through the highs and lows like we have, you grow,” said Witten, who needs 57 catches to become the NFL’s second tight end with 1,000 for his career, trailing only Tony Gonzalez. “And then off the field, just the friendship and brotherhood. You get married. You have children. All in that course of when you first met.”

The perception of the commitment for each of these teammates differed for years, reputations sewn a year apart starting with Witten famously running 30 yards without a helmet after a catch in 2007. When the next season ended in a blowout loss at Philadelphia that kept Dallas out of the playoffs, Romo infamously said his life would be pretty good if that was the worst thing that happened to him.

Only recently have views on Romo been changing, partly because he battled through three back injuries in just a year and a half to have the most efficient season of his career in 2014.

Then the Cowboys came close to winning multiple playoff games for the first time since Troy Aikman led the last of three Super Bowl-winning runs after the 1995 season. A loss at Green Bay in the divisional round turned in the fourth quarter when Romo’s deep throw to Dez Bryant on fourth-and-2 was overturned on review after being ruled a catch near the goal line.

“When you’re in the NFL and you’re young, it’s all about yourself,” said Romo, the franchise leader in yards passing (33,270) and touchdowns (242) — ahead of Hall of Famers Aikman and Super Bowl winner Roger Staubach. “And as you get older and you create the relationships that you have, through a Jason Witten and other people, you want to share those moments. Playoff games. Super Bowl.”