Death, Taxes, and Jason Witten.
There are certainties and then there are absolute certainties. Jason Witten is someone who is so certain in his results that we actually are guilty of not writing about him enough.
But, here we are, in a season where many of us were very concerned with how his season began. For reasons that were difficult to explain, his production while Tony Romo was present in the game was shockingly low. Through 5.5 games this season, Jason Witten had 38 targets, 23 catches, 270 yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs on passes thrown to him, and a putrid QB Rating of 58.0.
This had us all wondering what was happening. The most consistent Cowboys performer of our generation was not performing to his level of awesomeness.
Had he lost a step? Had the wear and tear on his body started to catch up to him? Can he no longer present a mismatch conflict where LBs are too slow and Safeties are too small? We have theories as to why Jon Kitna and Miles Austin don't connect, but Romo and Witten? That is as money a combination as almost anybody in this league. What was happening?
We may never know what was wrong there, but beginning in Game 6, 2 things changed. Romo got hurt and Kitna began to pound the ball at #82. Now, you know my theory - Kitna's arm is one that loves to rely on the throw in the middle of the field and take what is given to him. He is not going to throw sideline to sideline both shallow and deep. He cannot and will not attempt to do that.
So, here comes #82. Since Game 6, look at this: 70 Targets, 59 Catches, 641 yards, 6 TDs, and 0 INTs. A QB Rating over the next 9 games of 133! Shockingly awesome.
The rumors of his decline appear to be greatly exaggerated.
He has plenty of miles on his tires, but at the age of 28, it is much too early to proclaim that it is time to move on to the next one.
So, now you look at his body of work for the season and see that he is what he always is: money in the bank. It appears that he will have another 90-catch, 1000-yard season and this year, unlike 2009, he will get in the end zone a bunch. He has tied a career high with 7 TDs, and obviously has 2 more games to go find #8.
Target Distribution: - Game 14 vs Washington
| Name | Targets | Catches | Yards | FD/TD/INT | QB Rating |
| Austin | 7 | 3 | 38 | 2/1/0 | 100.0 |
| Witten | 12 | 10 | 140 | 4/1/0 | 143.0 |
| Jones | 3 | 2 | 47 | 2/0/0 | 109.7 |
| Choice | 5 | 4 | 31 | 2/0/0 | 92.5 |
| Bennett | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0/0/0 | 56.25 |
| Johnson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 39.5 |
| Hurd | 6 | 4 | 35 | 3/0/0 | 81.9 |
| Gronkowski | 1 | 1 | 12 | 1/0/0 | 116.6 |
| Totals | 37 | 25 | 305 | 14/2/0 | 110.75 |
Manny Johnson is now officially in the database.
3RD/4TH Down Targets - Week 14 vs Washington
| Name | Targets | Catches | Yards | FD/TD/INT | QB Rating |
| Austin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 39.5 |
| Hurd | 2 | 1 | 7 | 1/0/0 | 58.3 |
| Choice | 2 | 2 | 19 | 1/0/0 | 106.25 |
| Witten | 5 | 5 | 58 | 2/1/0 | 154.58 |
| Totals | 10 | 8 | 84 | 4/1/0 | 135.0 |
And now, a look at the season numbers where Witten has caught and passed Miles Austin in all of the categories.
Target Distribution - Season To Date
| Name | Targets | Catches | Yards | FD/TD/INT | QB Rating |
| Witten | 108 | 82 | 911 | 35/7/3 | 110.5 |
| Austin | 103 | 61 | 864 | 37/6/5 | 85.57 |
| Bryant | 72 | 45 | 561 | 21/6/2 | 102.8 |
| Williams | 59 | 36 | 532 | 20/5/4 | 90.5 |
| Jones | 50 | 46 | 443 | 13/1/1 | 101.9 |
| Barber | 13 | 11 | 49 | 1/0/0 | 82.3 |
| Choice | 17 | 14 | 93 | 5/0/0 | 89.5 |
| Bennett | 40 | 28 | 227 | 10/0/2 | 63.2 |
| Ogletree | 6 | 3 | 34 | 2/0/0 | 67.3 |
| Hurd | 19 | 12 | 103 | 8/0/0 | 77.3 |
| Gronkowski | 10 | 7 | 35 | 1/0/0 | 75 |
| Johnson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 39.5 |
| Totals | 508 | 345 | 3898 | 157/26/17 | 93.76 |
3RD/4TH Down Targets - Season To Date
| Name | Targets | Catches | Yards | FD/TD/INT | QB Rating |
| Witten | 35 | 24 | 261 | 12/3/3 | 83.2 |
| Austin | 28 | 20 | 295 | 13/2/1 | 114.4 |
| Bryant | 25 | 16 | 198 | 8/4/1 | 111.3 |
| Williams | 13 | 8 | 159 | 6/1/0 | 129.9 |
| Bennett | 6 | 5 | 33 | 1/0/0 | 89.6 |
| Choice | 6 | 5 | 38 | 2/0/0 | 93.1 |
| Jones | 5 | 5 | 82 | 0/1/0 | 158.3 |
| Barber | 4 | 4 | 37 | 1/0/0 | 105.2 |
| Hurd | 7 | 4 | 38 | 3/0/0 | 72.3 |
| Ogletree | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1/0/0 | 56.3 |
| Totals | 129 | 89 | 1101 | 47/11/5 | 107.4 |
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Bob Sturm is host of BaD Radio on The Ticket 1310 AM Mondays through Fridays at 12-3 p.m. He also hosts The Ticket's Cowboys pregame show. Follow Bob on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bobanddan Bob offers his exclusive analysis after games on SportsDayDFW.com
Read all of Bob's posts at this link:
http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/archives/bob-sturm
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