Jason Witten had a down season last year for him. He only had one TD reception after a couple of years posting six TD’s per season. In this article, he discusses his lack of production last year and what he wants to do to improve.
"That has to be the biggest emphasis for me... the red zone," Witten said. "When you look at the great tight ends in the league, the red zone is where they stand out. If there is one area I can get better at, that's where it is."
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He's working hard to be a bigger threat, especially in the red zone.
"You have to attack down there when you are a tight end," Witten said. "When you look at good tight ends, everybody in the stadium knows where it's going, and you just can't stop it. That's what good tight ends do."
Witten also praises Bill Parcells as a big component of his development as a player. Parcells helped Witten improve in his run-blocking and his pass protection. Witten says that Parcells’ motivational techniques worked on him and spurred him on to become a better football player. Witten also acknowledges the presence of Terrell Owens and his 13 TD receptions last year played a part in reducing his number of TD’s.
Looking ahead, Witten believes that Jason Garrett will attack more through the air in the redzone, whereas Parcells was reluctant to put the ball up in the air in the redzone because of the possibility of a turnover. Then again, handing the ball to MB3 actually worked out pretty well for the Cowboys in the redzone department.
Hat tip to Impatient for the link.
Here’s an article with some brief news about Isaiah Stanback, and his continuing recovery from the foot injury. Stanback is chomping at the bit to get back on the field, but knows that he can’t risk further injury to his foot by coming back too soon. It looks like training camp is his target date for getting in some real action.
Also noted in the article were the brief fights at yesterday’s OTA. Jay Ratliff got into a tiff with Doug Free, and Cory Procter mixed it up with Stephen Bowen. Somebody put some pads on these guys, they need to hit somebody!