Dallas Cowboys kicker Brett Maher had a brutal showing in the Cowboys’ wild-card victory vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Monday, missing four consecutive extra points.
It was tough to watch and made him a punchline on social media.
It has also become the dominant storyline from a game his team still ended up winning (rather convincingly). Now Maher is in danger of a changing narrative as to the type of kicker he actually is. Something that seems to be overlooked in the aftermath is that he actually had a great season for the Cowboys, and there is a very good reason why they are not kicking him to the curb after one bad game.
For starters, the playoffs are not the time to experiment with new kickers, just bringing in somebody unknown off the street.
More importantly, Maher had one of the best seasons of any kicker in the NFL this season, and getting rid of him based one performance would be a dramatic overreaction.
Just consider some number here.
In 17 games this season, Maher was 29-for-32 on field goals (90.6 percent), including a very impressive 9-for-11 mark on kicks from 50-plus yards.
One of those 50-yarders was a game-winning kick as time expired in a Week 2 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
That 90.6 percent success rate also puts him among the top kickers in the league. Just for context on that, of the 40 kickers who qualified for the league lead this season, only 12 eclipsed the 90 percent mark on field goals. Only nine topped that mark a year ago, while Maher was just on the outside of that at 88 percent as a member of the New Orleans Saints.
He has also made more 60-yard field goals in his career (three) than any kicker in NFL history. That includes a 60-yard kick this season that he had to make twice after the officials messed up.
Along with the field goal success, he also successfully kicked 50 extra points on 53 attempts during the regular season. Only one kicker (Philadelphia’s Jake Elliott) made more extra points (51) while he was tied for the most attempts (also with Elliott).
In other words: He’s a good kicker, and the Cowboys would almost certainly be downgrading the position if they tried to replace him the week of the divisional playoffs.
Football fans (and even players) like to rip on kickers because they only have one job, but that job is not easy. Maher had a bad game, but he is not a bad kicker. The Cowboys are smart to stick with him.
