Brett Maher had the game from hell on Monday night, as the Dallas Cowboys kicker missed four consecutive extra points, etching his name in the history books as the first NFL player to miss that many in a game since at least 1932.
Early on, the misses felt like foreshadowing for disaster to come, causing meltdowns from Dallas fans and Peyton Manning, but the good news for Maher is his dreadful night didn’t have an impact on the outcome of the game, as the Cowboys ran away with a 31-14 win over the Bucs — although, those four points proved very important to some, as the game’s over/under total was set at 45.5. That overall team success may have also saved Maher his job, as after the game a jubilant Jerry Jones told reporters the team wouldn’t be looking for a replacement for Maher before the Divisional Round showdown with the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
“Will you look at some kickers this week?”- Reporter
“No. No. We won’t. He’s done enough good ones.”- Jerry Jones on Cowboys kicker Brett Maher pic.twitter.com/pqqHby6IuD
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 17, 2023
Patience isn’t always a trait associated with Jerry Jones (his loyalty to head coaches being the exception, here), but in this case he seems to recognize that the grass isn’t always greener and this game was clearly an outlier for Maher, who had missed three extra points all season on 53 attempts. One of those was his last kick of the regular season, though, so Cowboys fans will hope his lone make on his fifth extra point try in Tampa will break him free of his kicking yips and get him back on track.
Against a much better Niners team, the Cowboys are very likely going to need Maher to make some kicks, so giving him a public vote of confidence isn’t a bad idea — that is, unless he can’t shake Monday’s effort off.