By Charean Williams Fort Worth Star-Telegram
IRVING — Dan Bailey paused only for a minute.
His last miss was so long ago he might have forgotten it, but the Dallas Cowboys kicker has so few career missed field goals that they are far easier to remember than the makes.
“Yeah, San Diego,” Bailey said. “I think it was a 56-yarder. It seems like awhile ago, but the funny thing is I feel like I could have made it at the same time, too. …You just kind of have to learn from it and move on to the next one.”
Bailey’s last miss was almost a year ago, on Sept. 29, 2013, in San Diego, when his 56-yard try was wide left. It was only the ninth miss of his career.
He has been near-perfect in his four-year career, making 91.3 percent of his 103 field goal attempts. That’s the best percentage by a kicker over the past four seasons.
Bailey has made all nine tries this season, including three from 40-plus yards and one from 50-plus. His 26 consecutive field goals trails Chris Boniol’s franchise record by only one. Boniol made 27 in a row in 1996.
“He’s been pretty big,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said of Bailey. “He typically comes through, and we have a great deal of confidence in him to come through.”
Indianapolis kicker Mike Vanderjagt holds the NFL record for consecutive field goals with 42 from 2002-04. Gary Anderson had a streak of 40 in a row from 1997-1998 with the San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings.
“That’s a lot,” said Bailey, who made 28 of 30 field goal attempts last season.
Bailey scored 14 points last week in the Cowboys’ 26-10 victory over the Tennessee Titans, making field goal attempts of 48, 44, 51 and 48. In so doing, he became only the 15th kicker to make four field goals of 40-plus in a game.
The only surprise was Bailey wasn’t the difference. Since 2011, when Bailey became the Cowboys’ field-goal kicker, 32 of the team’s 50 games have been decided by seven points or less.
Bailey has eight game-winners, a team record.
“We have great confidence in him,” Garrett said. “He’s an awfully good football player, and he’s won a lot of games for us in critical moments with his kicks — tying games, winning games, winning games in overtime. He’s just been that kind of a player.”
The Cowboys had a carousel of kickers, using seven from 2005 until 2011 when they lucked into Bailey. Dallas kept two kickers Bailey’s rookie season, using David Buehler as a kickoff specialist until Bailey proved Buehler expendable.
Bailey has been indispensable since, and the Cowboys rewarded him with a seven-year, $22.5 million deal in the off-season.
His teammates voted Bailey one of five team captains for this season.
Yet, as good as he’s been, Bailey has never been rewarded with a Pro Bowl or All-Pro nod. That seems only a matter of time.
“When you get recognized by your peers and other people on the kind of season you had, I think there’s a good feeling about that,” Bailey said. “I always look at it as there are so many intangibles that can be brought to the table, and sometimes those are more important than a Pro Bowl vote.
“I look at a guy like [San Diego Chargers punter] Mike Scifres, who hasn’t been to a Pro Bowl, but you ask anybody around the league, and Mike can kill the ball. That kind of respect among your peers, especially guys at your position, when your playing days are over, that’s the kind of stuff you sit around and talk about. It’s not, ‘Oh, how many Pro Bowls did you have?’ ”
Read more here: Cowboys kicker Bailey takes aim at club field-goal record | Dallas Cowboys | Latest news and ...
IRVING — Dan Bailey paused only for a minute.
His last miss was so long ago he might have forgotten it, but the Dallas Cowboys kicker has so few career missed field goals that they are far easier to remember than the makes.
“Yeah, San Diego,” Bailey said. “I think it was a 56-yarder. It seems like awhile ago, but the funny thing is I feel like I could have made it at the same time, too. …You just kind of have to learn from it and move on to the next one.”
Bailey’s last miss was almost a year ago, on Sept. 29, 2013, in San Diego, when his 56-yard try was wide left. It was only the ninth miss of his career.
He has been near-perfect in his four-year career, making 91.3 percent of his 103 field goal attempts. That’s the best percentage by a kicker over the past four seasons.
Bailey has made all nine tries this season, including three from 40-plus yards and one from 50-plus. His 26 consecutive field goals trails Chris Boniol’s franchise record by only one. Boniol made 27 in a row in 1996.
“He’s been pretty big,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said of Bailey. “He typically comes through, and we have a great deal of confidence in him to come through.”
Indianapolis kicker Mike Vanderjagt holds the NFL record for consecutive field goals with 42 from 2002-04. Gary Anderson had a streak of 40 in a row from 1997-1998 with the San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings.
“That’s a lot,” said Bailey, who made 28 of 30 field goal attempts last season.
Bailey scored 14 points last week in the Cowboys’ 26-10 victory over the Tennessee Titans, making field goal attempts of 48, 44, 51 and 48. In so doing, he became only the 15th kicker to make four field goals of 40-plus in a game.
The only surprise was Bailey wasn’t the difference. Since 2011, when Bailey became the Cowboys’ field-goal kicker, 32 of the team’s 50 games have been decided by seven points or less.
Bailey has eight game-winners, a team record.
“We have great confidence in him,” Garrett said. “He’s an awfully good football player, and he’s won a lot of games for us in critical moments with his kicks — tying games, winning games, winning games in overtime. He’s just been that kind of a player.”
The Cowboys had a carousel of kickers, using seven from 2005 until 2011 when they lucked into Bailey. Dallas kept two kickers Bailey’s rookie season, using David Buehler as a kickoff specialist until Bailey proved Buehler expendable.
Bailey has been indispensable since, and the Cowboys rewarded him with a seven-year, $22.5 million deal in the off-season.
His teammates voted Bailey one of five team captains for this season.
Yet, as good as he’s been, Bailey has never been rewarded with a Pro Bowl or All-Pro nod. That seems only a matter of time.
“When you get recognized by your peers and other people on the kind of season you had, I think there’s a good feeling about that,” Bailey said. “I always look at it as there are so many intangibles that can be brought to the table, and sometimes those are more important than a Pro Bowl vote.
“I look at a guy like [San Diego Chargers punter] Mike Scifres, who hasn’t been to a Pro Bowl, but you ask anybody around the league, and Mike can kill the ball. That kind of respect among your peers, especially guys at your position, when your playing days are over, that’s the kind of stuff you sit around and talk about. It’s not, ‘Oh, how many Pro Bowls did you have?’ ”
Read more here: Cowboys kicker Bailey takes aim at club field-goal record | Dallas Cowboys | Latest news and ...
