the Dallas CowboysThe coaching staff was “vindicated” of sticking with Brett Maher after his historically appalling performance in kicks against Tampa Bay Buccaneers – at least according to owner Jerry Jones.
Speaking after the Cowboys’ most recent loss, a 19-12 defeat to the San Francisco 49ers, Jones said he’s proud of Maher for rebounding from four extra points against Tampa Bay to make both field goals on Sunday. However, his only extra points attempt was blocked.
“Their decision to kick our kicker with his field goals was vindicated, in my mind,” Jones said.via The Athletic), “and I’m proud of him.”
In each of last week’s Cowboys’ first four point game versus the Pirates in the wild card round, Maher missed the extra point. He pushed the first two kicks wide to the right, then pulled the third kick wide to the left. On the fourth kick, he hit outside the post. He was the first player in NFL history to lose four extra points in a playoff game. (He converted the extra point on Dallas’ fifth touchdown.)
Despite the poor performance, the Cowboys backed him up solidly all week. Maher had gone 50 of 53 in extra points during the regular season, as well as 29 of 32 on field goals.
“I’m a big fan of Money Maher,” Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott He said after the team won over Tampa. “I talked to him one-on-one after the game, and I just said, ‘Let this go, we’re going to need him.’ I just played like s—a week ago, so it happened. So I mean this happens. Knowing what this guy did, with the resilience he showed Throughout his career. Personally, there is no doubt that he will come back and be perfect and help us win.”
Maher also had vocal support from Mike McCarthy and Sir Lamb. However, during the week leading up to the Divisional Round match vs San Francisco 49ers, Cowboys signed kicker Tristan Vizcaino to the practice squad, giving them another option in place of Maher Sunday night. But Dallas didn’t move Vizcaino up to the active roster, so Maher will be the one to go.
And apparently, he had a rough run during the warm-ups. And not just when it comes to whether or not he takes his kicks. The 49ers didn’t seem to take kindly to Maher warming up on their side of the field, interrupting his warm-up briefly before finally allowing him to punt again.
Oh, and he struggled with kicks, too. According to The Athletic, Maher missed at least four kicks during the first part of his warm-up, knocking them all right.
Things seem to have gone very badly (err Two more kicks) that jones He walked in the field During the warm up to give Maher a pep talk. To put it nicely, this is very unusual, although Maher went after that He makes his next three attempts.
Things did not calm down once the match started. After Dalton Schultz hit the first touchdown of the game in the second quarter, Maher stopped the first extra point attempt of the afternoon. Even if the Niners couldn’t get a hand on that kick, it looked like the try was going to go wide left regardless.
Even with Maher’s historic struggles, the Cowboys sent him a 25-yard field goal after missing a third-and-goal in the third quarter. Maher’s try split the ups to tie the game at nine. Then he attempted a 43-yard touchdown run with Dallas trailing, 16-9, with about 11 minutes to play, and that was also good.
Maher’s effort to bounce back was a bittersweet moment after the nightmare of last week’s match.
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