Brett Maher will live to kick another day.
Following his shank-filled Thanksgiving showing against the Buffalo Bills, Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones announced there’ll be no change at kicker.
“We have confidence in Maher,” Jones said Friday on 105.3 The Fan, via Jon Machota of The Athletic. “We are going to stick with him.”
Jones stated that Dallas currently doesn’t plan to work out free-agent kickers. It’s Maher’s job to lose — and he can’t seem to lose it.
On a day where nothing went right for the home team, Maher missed an end-of-half field goal attempt, due to it being deflected, then pushed a 47-yard third-quarter attempt wide right. Those six points wouldn’t have changed the result of a 26-15 loss, but it further deflated an already spiraling squad.
Mostly reliable last year, Maher has been hit-or-miss in 2019, lacking middle ground. He’s 19-for-28 on the year with a long of 63 yards, which tied an NFL record and set a new franchise mark. He’s made all of his extra-point tries — 33-for-33.
However, Maher is just 6-of-12 on FG attempts at AT&T Stadium this season, and his unsuccessful boots are often from short distances or come at inopportune times.
“We’ll evaluate the kicking situation. We need to make those kicks,” head coach Jason Garrett said after Thursday’s game, per the Dallas Morning News. “Brett’s done a really good job for us through the course of his time here, but we’ll evaluate that decision, just like we’ll evaluate everything else.”
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Not the First Time …
… that Maher’s needed, and received, a vote of confidence from the Cowboys’ higher-ups. Owner Jerry Jones was presented with two options concerning Maher following his meltdown in Week 5 against the Green Bay Packers: Punt him to the curb or do nothing.
Jones, obviously, went the latter route by throwing his support behind the player who admitted “I didn’t do my part,” exonerating everyone involved, such as holder Chris Jones, for his miscues.
“We just got to make sure we buckle in and make sure he makes those kicks…We have confidence in him,” Jones said on Oct. 7, per The Athletic. “He’s done it in the past and he’s going to do it for us again in the future.”
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Cowboys Reach Conclusion on Replacing Struggling K Brett Maher