Cowboys Confident in Afterthought, 'Shaky' Kicker Brett Maher?
Last August in Oxnard, Brett Maher was an afterthought.
Now, heading to San Francisco, he's giving the Dallas Cowboys second thoughts.
The kicker who set an NFL record and made America collectively cringe by missing four extra points in Monday night's blowout playoff win wasn't even supposed to be a Cowboy this season. Dallas went to training camp in California last July counting on a competition between Jonathan Garibay and Lirim Hajrullahu to bear a young, trustworthy leg.
When that failed miserably, the Cowboys signed Maher at the end of camp on August 9. But how sold were they? They released him in the final roster cutdown to 53 players, leaving him exposed but remaining confident that no other team would sign the journeyman.
The gamble - born of desperation - paid off, as Maher produced a solid season on a playoff team. He made 29 of 32 field goals (including a 60-yarder) and 50 of 53 extra points. NFL kickers are notoriously fickle. And after stints in the Canadian Football League, with the New Orleans Saints and the Cowboys 2018-19, the 33-year-old seemed to be in as good of a groove as any.
But he missed an extra point in the regular-season finale at Washington and then came Monday night's epic meltdown. He set the dubious record by missing two to the right, one left, and another right off the top of the upright. So leery of Maher was Cowboys' coach Mike McCarthy that he eschewed a 35-yard field goal and instead went for a 4th-and-4 with a 24-6 lead in the fourth quarter.
After the game, McCarthy, teammates and even Maher said all the right things.
McCarthy: "He's been super clutch for us all year."
Dak Prescott: "No doubt that he will come back next week and be perfect.”
Maher: "This team is too good moving forward for me to have to do that."
But after denying that the team would bring in kickers in the wake of a cringe-worthy performance - one that even had Hall of Famers sarcastically volunteering to replace Maher - Jones softened that stance on Tuesday morning and left the door open for signing a new kicker or even having two on the active roster for Sunday night's game against the 49ers.
The Cowboys used Greg Zuerlein for most of 2021, but signed Hajrullahu and kept him for two weeks when the regular kicker tested positive for COVID.
The owner - who admits to concern over his kicker's "shakiness" - called having two kickers active Sunday "doable."
While the Cowboys get back to the basics of the kicking operation with Maher - snap, holder, laces, tilt, etc. - this week at The Star in Frisco, they'll also hold their breath that kicks continue to not decide their postseason fate.
The Cowboys have never won a playoff game on a final-play field goal. Their last crucial kick that won them anything close? Eddie Murray's 41-yard field goal in overtime at The Meadowlands in the 1993 regular-season finale that beat the Giants and set them up with home-field advantage throughout the playoffs en route to a second consecutive Super Bowl victory.
The good news: After beating Tom Brady in a playoff game, the Cowboys' biggest worry is about their kicking missing multiple extra points.
The bad news: A kicker missing multiple extra points in a playoff game is a genuine worry.
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