Cowboys again bringing in kickers for tryouts. Will Brett Maher get the boot this time?
It may be too late to save the season.
But the Dallas Cowboys appear finally ready hold someone accountable for their performance in contributing to the team’s disappointing play.
And it’s not coach Jason Garrett or special teams coach Keith O’Quinn.
Shaky kicker Brett Maher, who has missed an NFL-high 10 kicks this season, could be on the way out.
The team is bringing in three kickers for tryouts on Monday, including veteran Kai Forbath, Nick Rose and Tristan Vizcaino, sources said. It’s second time in the last eight days that the Cowboys had a kicker tryout.
Rose and Vizcaino were among three kickers brought in on Dec. 1 after Maher missed two field goals in a Thanksgiving Day loss to the Buffalo Bills.
The Cowboys decided to stick with Maher and he let them down with a crucial miss from 42 yards in the second quarter of the 31-21 loss to the Chicago Bears last Thursday.
But no more.
“Obviously, we have to do a close evaluation of it,” Garrett said after the game. “We brought three kickers in earlier in the week. We decided to give Brett an opportunity this week. It didn’t work out. So we have to take a real close, hard look at that.”
Garrett followed that up on Friday with more speculation about moving on from Maher.
“We’re going to continue to address that situation,” Garrett said. “There’s been nothing finalized on that, but there’s no question that we have to do a better job of making those kicks, and Brett Maher will be the first one to tell you that.”
Maher didn’t help himself with his comments after the game.
“I felt like I did a good job staying in my lane this week,” Maher said Thursday night. “I felt like I hit every ball pretty well tonight. I’ll put my head on the pillow tonight feeling good about what I did this week and moving forward.”
Maher has now gone 20-of-30 on the year. It’s the most misses in a season by a kicker in the NFL in four years.
Now, the Cowboys will look at Forbath, Rose and Vizcaino.
Forbath, the former Redskins, Saints and Vikings kicker, is a nine-year veteran. He was signed by the Patriots last week as a one-game fill-in and missed an extra point. He is 121-of-141 for his career and is 173-of-185 on extra points.
Vizcaino has never kicked in the NFL. Rose, who played in college at Texas, has had brief stints with the Chargers and Redskins. He has made 11 of 14 kicks in his career and is 9 of 10 under 40 yards.
