Jason Witten: I have a lot of confidence in this offense with the weapons that we have.

Jason Witten returned to the Dallas Cowboys this season and in his first game back he caught a touchdown. That’s pretty awesome.

The score was Witten’s 69th receiving touchdown of his career for the Cowboys which puts him only four behind the all-time leader for the franchise, Dez Bryant. Should Witten haul in five more scores this season he will have caught more touchdowns than anyone in the team’s history.

That would be a great accomplishment for Witten, but he has his sights set on much bigger goals. Jason Witten wants to win a Super Bowl and one week in there are a lot of people who think he has a good chance to do so in 2019. We caught up with him on the BTB podcast feed to discuss his goals for the season and how you could even be in Miami for the Super Bowl. It’s a chat you’ll enjoy.

BTB’s The Ocho

Jason Witten will help Courtyard kickoff the NFL’s 100th season by entering the Courtyard Super Bowl Sleepover Contest, noting his game-changing friendship with fellow Dallas star Emmitt Smith. This year, Courtyard, the Official Hotel of the NFL, is searching for a “game-changing friendship” to award the opportunity of a lifetime to wake up on Super Bowl Sunday inside the stadium.

This year, Courtyard is looking to celebrate the game-changing friendship of one NFL fan along with a group of three friends who have encouraged each other to follow their passions. The winner will enjoy an overnight stay inside a stadium suite transformed into a Courtyard guest room with a view overlooking the field. Fans can enter with a photo and short story via social media using #CourtyardSuperBowlContest in posts showing and describing their game-changing friendship.

Courtyard by Marriott is entering its ninth year as the “Official Hotel of the NFL,” a partnership that has allowed it to create unique, once-in-a-lifetime experiences for their passionate guests that bring them closer to the game.

This season, together with the NFL, Marriott Bonvoy is offering over 155 Moments throughout the regular season, including Masterclasses with Emmitt Smith. These money-can’t-buy experiences are exclusively available to members on the Marriott Bonvoy Moments platform and can only be accessed by redeeming Marriott Bonvoy points.

Witten is quite the admirer of NFL history so it was interesting to hear how much he values playing in the league’s 100th season. The game has seen a lot, and so has he, but in 100 years do you think anyone ever got their cleats tied together like Jason did on Sunday?

What I found to be the most interesting was how Witten answered what he finds special about the 2019 Dallas Cowboys team specifically. Obviously, he saw something significant because he went through everything necessary to return to them. That wasn’t easy.

“Look how they finished last year. 3-5 and they come back and win that division. It shows that they’re mentally tough enough to handle that. I think you look across the team, when I look at the defense, that group flies around and makes plays. You see young defensive backs coming into their own that are able to play man coverage and play it tight and do it at a high level and have confidence to do that.”

“And not just all young players I mean look at Byron Jones and the year he had last year. DeMarcus Lawrence. That group, Rod Marinelli has got them playing at a high level. I think Kris Richard’s been a nice addition. You talk about accountability, that defense is. Jaylon Smith stepping up. Of course you bring back Sean.”

“So I believe in that and collectively certainly I have a lot of confidence in this offense with the weapons that we have. I just think it’s a talented team. You’ve got to have talent in order to win in this league. That’s kind of line one and then there’s all these other things that go into it. Are we just better than everybody else? No, but we’re giving ourselves a chance. I think Stephen and Jerry and Will McClay have done a great job kind of assembling this roster and I wanted to be a part of it, I wanted to play.”

“It helps when you have good guys, too. As a veteran player you don’t want to do it and have to deal with some of that stuff. You want guys that go about it the right way. This group approaches it, they’re driven, coaching staff and players alike, they want to achieve it. So whether you do it or not time will tell, but that journey is what it’s all about.”

In case you forgot, “driven” is Jason Garrett’s motto for the 2019 season. It’s not shocking to see Jason Witten use that as his punchline to his approach to the year, he’s one of the strongest leaders on the team.

Hopefully whoever wins the Courtyard contest and gets to spend the night in Miami the night before the Super Bowl is in fact going to sleep on the eve of the Dallas Cowboys winning number six. Jason Witten certainly deserves that type of ending.