Witten motivated for Cowboys to bounce back

Published Sep. 17, 2012 7:04 p.m. ET

foxsports

IRVING, Texas — Cowboys tight end Jason Witten wasn't blaming Sunday's 27-7 loss on the team not playing hard or not being prepared. Too him, it was all about execution on offense.
"Too many missed opportunities. Drops, myself," Witten said Monday at Valley Ranch. "Too many missed assignments. They gave us different looks and we weren't able to get the protection going our way."
Witten was targeted 10 times but made only four grabs, dropping a deep ball early and two others on shorter routes. Despite a bad day at the office, the seven-time Pro Bowler wanted it to be known that it had nothing to do with his recovery from a lacerated spleen.
"Health is good. I feel good. No setbacks. I feel fine," Witten said. "I just didn't play well. I had too many opportunities that I didn't take advantage of in the passing game."
In the locker room after the game, Witten said the team didn't play Cowboys football. On Monday, he was asked what Cowboys football is.
Witten responded that it's physical football that doesn't involve turnovers. Then he added this:
"Look, I'm not here to convince y'all or anybody else what this football team is going to be," he said. "I believe we got the guys that are going to do it. Ultimately, we laid an egg. We didn't do it. And you don't start the season off and bounce around. We're not worried about that. We're worried about executing and winning ballgames. That's where the focus is for us.
"I think it should be clear to you guys that it's not about, 'Were they up, were they not?' We got our (butts) beat, that's where our focus is, how do we bounce back from that. You got to execute. You got to play winning football."

Follow Jon Machota on Twitter: @jonmachota