Dallas Cowboys Kicker Brett Maher had a bad game against himself last week Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
On each of the Cowboys’ first four touchdowns, Maher missed the extra point. He pushed the first two kicks to the right, then pulled the third one wide to the left. On the fourth kick, he hit upright and outside. He was the first kicker in NFL history to miss four extra points in a playoff game. (He converted the extra point on Dallas’ fifth touchdown.)
Despite the poor performance, the Cowboys backed him solidly all week. Maher was 50 of 53 on 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 said He said following the team’s success On Tampa. “I talked to him one-on-one after the game and I told him, ‘Hey, let it go, we’re going to need it.’ With the resilience he has shown throughout his career. Personally, he will come back and be perfect, no doubt helping to win.”
Maher also received vocal support from Mike McCarthy and Cee Dee Lamb. However, the week before the divisional round match against them San Francisco 49ers, the Cowboys signed kicker Tristan Vizcaino to the practice squad on Sunday night to provide another opportunity to replace Maher. But Dallas didn’t promote Vizcaino to the active roster, so Maher will be their kicker.
And apparently, he had a rough ride during warmups. And not just when it comes to whether or not he makes his kicks. The 49ers didn’t take kindly to Maher warming up on the sideline, briefly interrupting his warmup before eventually allowing him to kick again.
Oh, and he struggled to make kicks, too. According to The Athletic, Maher missed at least four kicks during the early part of his warmups, all of them pushed to the right.
Things went very badly (he missed Two more kicks) said Cowboys owner Jerry Jones Walked to the field To give Maher a pep talk during warmups. To put it mildly, this is highly unusual, although Maher later moved on Make his next three attempts.
Things didn’t slow down once the game started. After Dalton Schultz hauled in the game’s first touchdown in the second quarter, Maher blocked his first extra point attempt of the afternoon. Although the Niners couldn’t get a hand on the kick, the attempt seemed to go wide left regardless.
Despite Maher’s historic struggles and a failed third-and-goal in the third quarter, the Cowboys sent him out for a 25-yard field goal. Maher’s attempt bounced off the uprights to tie the game at nine. Then he attempted a 43-yard field goal with Dallas trailing 16-9 with 11 minutes to play that was also good — creating some momentum in a tightly contested contest.
It certainly didn’t develop during the Cowboys’ most important game of the season, but Maher’s two second-half field goals could give him the confidence he needs.