Dallas Cowboys kicker Brett Maher had a terrible game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week,
In the Cowboys’ first four touchdowns, Maher missed extra points. He kicks the first two feet to the right, then pulls the third to the left. With the fourth kick, he hit the outside of the post. He is the first player in NFL history to miss four runs in a playoff game. (He did convert a bonus point for Dallas’ fifth touchdown.)
Despite the underwhelming performance, the Cowboys stuck with him all week. Maher went 50-for-53 on extra points and 29-for-32 from the field during the regular season.
“I’m a big Money Maher fan,” Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott after the team wins say About Tampa. “I talked to him individually after the game and just told him, ‘Hey, let it go, we’re going to need it’ I just played like s-a week ago, so this happened. So I mean this That happened. Knowing what that guy has done and the resilience he’s shown throughout his career. Personally, there’s no doubt he’s going to come back and be perfect and help us win.”
Maher also has vocal support from Mike McCarthy and CeeDee Lamb. Still, the Cowboys signed kicker Tristan Biscano to the practice squad a week before their divisional game against the San Francisco 49ers, giving them another option to replace Maher on Sunday night. . But Dallas didn’t elevate Biscaino to the active roster, so Maher will be their main force.
Obviously, he didn’t play well during the warm-up period. It’s not just whether he’s playing or not. The 49ers clearly didn’t like Maher warming up on their side, interrupting his warmup briefly before finally allowing him to play again.
Oh, and he does have a hard time playing football, too. According to The Athletic, Maher missed at least four kicks early in the warmup, pushing them all to the right.
Things were obviously bad (he missed two more kicks) Cowboys owner Jerry Jones walk onto the court Cheer Maher up during the warmup.To put it mildly, this is highly unusual, although Maher then went on to for the next three attempts.
Once the game started, things didn’t calm down. Maher’s first scoring attempt of the afternoon was blocked after Dalton Schultz scored his first touchdown of the game in the second quarter. Even if the Niners failed to catch that kick, it looked like the attempt would have gone wide to the left anyway.
Even with Maher’s historic struggles, the Cowboys sent him on a 25-yard field goal after a missed 3-pointer in the third quarter. Maher’s attempt split the post to tie the score at nine… Then he attempted a 43-yard field goal and Dallas trailed 16-9 with about 11 minutes to play, which was also good — building some momentum in a competitive game.
It certainly wasn’t the development the Cowboys wanted in the biggest game of the season, but Maher’s two second-half field goals might give him the confidence he needs.