IRVING, Texas -- Jason Witten can't remember if it was assigned seating or just good fortune now. But as he sat down for dinner at AT&T Stadium after a practice that a number of Dallas Cowboys alumni attended a couple of years ago he was shoulder to shoulder with Mr. Cowboy, Bob Lilly.

Over the years, they have gotten to know each other. Witten has won the Bob Lilly Award, voted on by fans for sportsmanship, dedication, leadership and achievement, four times in his career.

Lilly joked how he has seen Witten's family grow over the years in which he has won the award, from just his wife, Michelle, in 2004, to the additions of his sons, C.J and Cooper, and daughters, Landry and Hadley, who was born last year.

Jason Witten has missed just one game in his career and is set to start his 196th straight game. AP Photo/Brandon Wade

“I enjoyed the conversation just because I respect him so much as a player,” Witten said. “I never saw him play obviously, but everybody you talk to the first thing out of their mouth is, ‘You've never been around a guy like this.' I was reminded of it earlier this year. Coach Garrett had Randy White in to speak with the team and the first thing out of his mouth was Bob Lilly. When Randy White is talking, ‘This is the greatest guy I ever saw play,' it reminds you how special that guy was.”

With Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Witten will be shoulder to shoulder again with Lilly, just this time in the Cowboys' record book by playing in his 196th straight game.

From 1961-74, Lilly was there every week, never missing a regular-season game. From 2003 to now, Witten has been there every week, missing just one game -- the fifth of his rookie season with a broken jaw.

“I just see him as the kind of person who is all in,” Lilly said over the phone earlier this week. “He is steadfast. He is durable. He is a leader. He is smart. He catches the ball when they get near him. He makes clutch first downs. He's the kind of guy if I was in a foxhole, I'd want him with me. And I'm sure his teammates think of him that way too. I don't see how anybody cannot like him.”

Lilly missed just one game in his life. It was the 1973 NFC Championship Game because of a torn hamstring. He said there is a hole in the muscle today the size of his fist because of that injury. He played with a compound fracture of his right thumb as a rookie. He played with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

“It grew back somehow,” Lilly said. “It might've been mother's prayers. I don't know.”

In the week leading up to the 1972 divisional round playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers he did not practice because of back spasms. He was in the hospital during the week with weights strapped to his legs to straighten him out.

“I had 40 something shots in my back to go out and play and I played in the first quarter,” Lilly said, “then it got so sore I couldn't contribute.”

Witten has stories too, like the jaw. He played with a cracked rib in 2008 against the New York Giants, which remains the last game in which he did not have a catch. In 2012, he played the opener against the Giants with a lacerated spleen suffered in the preseason. He has had hamstring and groin strains. He has had multiple knee and ankle injuries.

After the Week 2 win this year at the Philadelphia Eagles, Witten thought his streak was coming to an end. He suffered sprains of both ankles. One had an additional high-ankle sprain. He also had a sprained knee.

On Monday he was on crutches. On Wednesday he was limited in practice. The following Sunday he was on the field and played all 53 snaps against the Atlanta Falcons, catching six passes for 65 yards.

“I've always told myself that every time I go out there on Sunday, I have so much respect for this game and this league that it's not about being a tough guy,” Witten said. “You'll get exposed in a hurry if you go out there and you're not ready to play. I can only imagine that would be the worst feeling in the world. You go through all the work to get back and then you get out there and not ready to play.

“When I've had injuries, whether it was ankle sprains, knee sprains, even the spleen, my focus was more on I've got to be ready to play because it's not fair to your teammates and team. I've always tried to be prepared to play and be ready to play too so when the game came I wasn't even thinking about the injuries. I was thinking about what I needed to do.”

For Lilly and Witten, that drive came from a fear of not wanting to let teammates and coaches down, a fear of not wanting to let the game down and a fear of losing a job. It sounds preposterous for Lilly, who has a club record 11 Pro Bowl selections, and Witten, who is tied for the second-most in team history with 10, to think that way, but it is how they felt.

Lilly was a seven-time All-Pro. He was named the NFL's 75th anniversary team. In 1975 he became the first Cowboy inducted into the Ring of Honor. In 1980, he became the first Cowboy inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

He earned the nickname Mr. Cowboy. Witten is viewed as this generation's Mr. Cowboy.

“I don't know how I got stuck with that,” Lilly said. “I think Roger [Staubach] and the guys came up with it. Jason would certainly be a likely person to have that title. That's fine with me. They'll remember him long after I'm gone.”

A few years ago they sat shoulder to shoulder at dinner. They will be shoulder to shoulder on Sunday in the record book with Witten set to move ahead of Lilly when the Cowboys play the Miami Dolphins on Nov. 22 but Witten does not think he will ever surpass Lilly.

“I mean there's only one Bob Lilly, there's only one Mr. Cowboy and that's him,” Witten said. “Everybody that ever comes into this organization realizes that. You hear about that name and so to say that, 'I'm humbled' would be completely understated. To me, it's the ultimate compliment. When fans reference that or coaches or some of the guys say, ‘Hey, you're kind of a modern-day version of it,' that's what you want to be. Your goal as a football player is to ultimately be really good and play at a high level and help your team win, but you want to be known for how you approached it. To be compared to him, the guy that is the ultimate competitor, it's special.

“But there will always be just one Mr. Cowboy. That's him.”