SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- On this team, it's typically Dez Bryant with the flair for the dramatic catch. In fact, Bryant made his own circus catch in the waning minutes of Sunday's win against San Francisco.
But if the conversation is about the Cowboys' best catch of the game -- or maybe even the best catch of the year, for that matter -- it has to start with Jason Witten.
Because of all the great plays in Sunday's 40-10 victory, there might not have been a better one than the 35-year-old's one-handed, 18-yard touchdown snag in the back of the end zone to put the Cowboys up, 20-3, early in the second quarter.
"Usually, those one-handers are the other guys, but on that one it was good to get the touchdown and get in the end zone," Witten said.
The touchdown gave Witten 66 receiving touchdowns for his career, moving him past Michael Irvin and into third place in franchise history -- trailing only Dez Bryant and Bob Hayes. But true to his nature, Witten tried to be modest about the catch. The perennial Pro Bowler had a typical, workmanlike day, catching all four of his targets for 54 yards.
But this touchdown was as flashy as anything a Cowboys receiver has done this year, as he boxed out San Francisco cornerback Jaquiski Tartt and secured the pass in the palm of his right hand for a jaw-dropping touchdown.
"You have to use your body and size and shield him off," Witten said. "Coach Linehan talks about it all the time -- use your play strength on an undersized guy. It was a really good throw by Dak."
For his part, Prescott was sure to praise Witten's route running. The veteran has put together a Hall of Fame resume making plays down the seam, and the crux of this most recent touchdown came on a double-move to buy him space for the throw.
"It was just a great route, for one, by Witten and then a great job with letting the ball kind of fall," Prescott said. "I think that is an underrated trait of not necessarily going back and not going to early, not going back to the ball, but trusting it and letting it fall and using his body and he did a great job on that."
The play was emblematic of a day where the entire Dallas offense was humming. The Cowboys rushed for an impressive 265 yards -- best in the NFL this season. And with Ezekiel Elliott putting together 219 all-purpose yards, Prescott, Bryant and Witten handled the rest.
By the time the clock ran out, the Cowboys had put together just the 20th 500-yard game in franchise history, as well as their largest margin of victory since the 2014 season.
"Offensively, even though there's a lot of areas to get better, it just felt like we were attacking," Witten said. "We were in control of down and distance, and really -- what we talk about being our identity, I felt like it showed up."
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