We are about to learn how tough Dallas Cowboys' rookie kicker Dan Bailey is. Bailey missed a field goal in Week 2 of the season against San Francisco but came back and made two at the end of the game to win it for the Cowboys.
Then he was perfect for the next eight games, hitting two more game winners along the way. In the Arizona game, Bailey missed a kick early on but had another chance to redeem himself at the end. Just like he has been all season, Bailey was clutch and hit the game winning field goal as time expired.
There was only one problem. Jason Garrett called a timeout and the field goal didn't count. That is called icing your kicker, which is usually what the opposing coach does and not your own. Icing a kicker usually makes a kicker re-think his important kick in hopes that the nerves causes him to miss it. Bailey missed the following kick.
Oh, by the way, Garrett responded by saying he has not lost the confidence in his kicker after the miss.
I was watching the NFL Network on Dec. 7 and Michael Irvin made a great point. He said that Garrett wasn't to blame for the Cowboys' loss. He said that icing the kicker shouldn't' matter because it is the kicker's job to make the kick. The only person to blame for the overtime period was Dan Bailey because he missed the kick.
I can live with that but I can't handle Garrett sugar coating the incident saying he hasn't lost confidence in his kicker. That is because a lot of people might be losing confidence in Garrett.
Let's get back to Bailey. There is no way anyone should lose confidence in the kid. He is rookie kicker who has kicked three walk off field goals this season. He is 29-of-32 in field goals on the season and 28-of-28 in PATs. The leading scorer this season among kickers is David Akers of San Francisco and he has missed five field goals.
Dan Bailey has kicked a total of 12 games in his career and missed three field goals in two of those games. Bailey will be fine.
Author Shawn S. Lealos has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma (2000) and has been a Dallas Cowboys' fan since he was a child. His favorite players range from Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett to the Triplets of the 90s and he enjoys talking about all Cowboys' related news, good or bad
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