IRVING, Texas - The largest cable audience in television history watched Jason Witten's first successful Howie Long "Ultimate Tough Guy" title defense Monday night, when the Cowboys' Pro Bowl tight end caught a game-high seven balls for 110 yards with a slightly separated shoulder that kept him in the locker room for most of the second quarter.
Shawn Witten has seen his younger brother's hard-wearing playing style since Pop Warner. Like the time Jason broke his ankle in a preseason scrimmage at Elizabethton (Tenn.) High School and returned in time for the Cyclones' third game. And the season he played through painful bone spurs in his elbow at the University of Tennessee.
"It is his trademark," said Shawn, who played receiver at Virginia Tech and just started his second season as Elizabethton High's head football coach. "He just always found a way to be able to manage it and fight to get himself back."
Witten's spartan image has grown steadily since his rookie season, when he missed one game - the first and only of his six-year career - to have three plates surgically inserted for a fractured jaw. He returned the following week for a 38-7 road victory against Detroit.
"I had to get one taken out," he said, "when I had my wisdom teeth removed on this side."
A man of steel - literally.
Last season Long, the Hall-of-Fame defensive end and longtime Fox analyst, found his 2007 "Tough Guy" award winner on a chilly Nov. 4 evening in Philadelphia when Witten encapsulated his reputation in one play - a 53-yard catch and run down The Linc's right sideline after a nasty hit sent his helmet skittering across the field.
This past January, Long and his Fox crew traveled to Witten's hometown to present a $50,000 check to the Elizabethton Athletic Department. Witten delivered a taped acceptance speech to a raucous crowd at Treadway Gymnasium.
"It's funny because you look back at it and it probably wasn't my best game," he said. "But everybody remembers that play and you're the toughest guy to ever play now because your helmet came off."
Other than a bloodied nose, Witten left that game fully healthy. He wasn't so fortunate in the first half of Monday night's rubber match with the Eagles.
Witten needed shoulder X-rays (the results were negative) and a pain-killing shot to return for the second half of the Cowboys' thrilling 41-37 win. Midway through the fourth quarter, he caught a 32-yard pass down the seam to set up Marion Barber's game-winning touchdown run.
"I just didn't know what had happened," Witten said of his shoulder injury. "When I fell on it, it just kind of felt like it was stinging there and I was unsure what it was. Once I got the X-rays done right away I knew it wasn't broken, I was fine and I immediately wanted to go back in there."
Witten practiced all week and says he has full range of motion in his shoulder. Sunday night against Green Bay, he'll play in his 82nd of 83 career games.
A four-time Pro Bowl selection, Witten has tried to lead by example since arriving as a third-round pick in 2003. Over the years he's become more vocal - the Cowboys players again named him one of four offensive captains - but his durability and resilience often speak for him.
Asked about Emmitt Smith's suggestion that the Cowboys still might lack emotional leaders, team owner Jerry Jones smiled and said Witten must have slipped Smith's mind.
"It's about everything," Jones said. "What he demands from his teammates, not just his position but what he demands from every teammate as well as what he is physically as well as just his style, the way he plays the game. He doesn't take the easy way around."
Shawn Witten uses his younger brother's approach to life on and off the field as an example for his own team, which has enjoyed a 2-1 start after missing the playoffs by one game last season (conference foe Sullivan Central awaits Friday night).
"Everybody roots for him. Kids in the hall on Mondays will be like, 'Hey coach, did you see the Cowboys game? Your brother had a good game,'" Shawn said. "He's a great role model for these kids back here.
"It's just exciting to see because I always have someone like Jason to lean on for pre-game speeches, for X's and O's, for words of encouragement. He goes through it every day with (Cowboys offensive coordinator) Jason Garrett and (head coach) Wade Phillips. He always says, 'Hey, I think this might be good motivation for your kids.'"
Shawn and Jason learned about commitment from their grandfather, Dave Rider, who coached the Cyclones for 24 years.
Now Jason is committed to helping the Cowboys build on last year's 13-3 record - even if physically he's a little less than 100 percent.
"I feel like I've always been that kind of player," he said. "You just never know until those things come up, and I've never played football any other way."
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