Cowboys TE Jason Witten: It’s my intention to keep playing

Jason Witten didn’t sound like a player who had given any thought to retirement after the Dallas Cowboys’ 21-12 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. Instead, Witten sounded more likely to play a 16th season than calling it a career.

“It’s a great question,” Witten said. “Every week I have an opportunity to break this team down and I see too much positive. I really do. Feel too good to think that that would end. It’s my intention to keep playing, but right now there’s just a lot of emotion with it.

“You go out on this journey, on this quest, and nothing’s guaranteed to you. It’s an unbelievable opportunity and I see a lot of positive with our team but, as I said, that margin is so damn tight and we weren’t able to capitalize. We fought hard. We just weren’t able to get the result. There’s not always a fairy tale end. I realize that. I see too many positives and feel to good to think that it would end right now.”

Witten, who turns 36 in the offseason, remains a productive player for the Cowboys. He caught five passes for 39 yards in Sunday’s loss, marking the 14th consecutive season he’s posted 60 catches. He has 61 catches for 543 yards this season.

Only Jerry Rice and Tony Gonzalez have had as many consecutive seasons with 60-plus catches as Witten.

But Witten has made it clear that all he cares about at this point in his career is being on a winning team. He’s made six trips to the postseason in his career, but has never advanced past the divisional round.

The Cowboys entered this season with Super Bowl hopes, but they fell well short of them. They were eliminated from postseason contention Sunday.

“Disappointment,” Witten said. “There’s been a lot of sacrifice since　July 25th　or so, kick it off with a conditioning test and been going since then with one goal. You know when that opportunity ends for you, there’s a lot of emotion with that. It comes down to results. Getting the job done and we just weren’t good enough. It makes it emotional.”

This story was originally published December 24, 2017 at 9:13 PM with the headline "Cowboys TE Jason Witten: It’s my intention to keep playing."