How hero-kicker Brett Maher’s successes and struggles mirror Cowboys season
Kicker Brett Maher is no longer in the dog house. At least not this week.
After missing an extra point earlier in the game, allowing the Falcons to tie the game 19-19 in the final minutes. Maher made a 42-yard field goal as time expired, allowing the Cowboys to win their second straight game for the first time all season and even their record at 5-5 heading into Thursday’s first-place NFC East showdown against the Washington Redskins (6-4).
It was his second game-winning field goal of the season. He also beat the Lions with a 38-yard game-winning kick.
“I just said ‘put it behind you, the hell with it,” coach Jason Garrett said to Maher after the missed extra point. “You’re going to get another opportunity’ and sure enough, he did and he drilled it.”
It was typical of his season. Maher missed his first attempt in the season opener. But then nailed 16 in a row.
Maher missed three of his last five field goal attempts going into the Falcons game, including a 52-yarder on the final play of a 23-20 loss to the Washington Redskins that could have sent the game into overtime.
And after making a 21-yarder and a 50-yarder, he missed an extra point early in the fourth quarter giving the Cowboys a 12-9 lead instead of 12-9 following a four-yard touchdown run from Dak Prescott.
The Cowboys made it 19-9 after a 23-yard touchdown run and successful extra point from Maher.
But when the Falcons kicked a field goal and scored their final touchdown to tie the game, the missed extra point loomed large.
So no one felt better about coming through at the end and getting mobbed by his teammates than Maher, who said his foot got stuck in the turf on the extra point
“I don’t hear a lot of (what his teammates said to him at the bottom of the pile),” Maher said. “It’s just a bunch of loud noises. I try to make I keep my chin strap buckled up so I don’t get hurt.”
“That is a great feeling especially knowing what those guys go throughout the week and during the game to put me in position. It is really satisfying for me.”
Said owner Jerry Jones: “I think that probably had a lot to say about the team as a whole. The fact that he had hurdles, especially that extra point. The team itself had its ups and downs during games this season. I think the kicker story today, and frankly the last few weeks is the story to some degree. For him to have success and win the game in a comeback, that’s just a big step to build on. I think it’s inspirational for him to make that game-winning kick.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2018 at 6:51 PM.