ARLINGTON — Dan Bailey plays his position better than anyone on the Cowboys.
He’s a better kicker than Tony Romo is a quarterback. A better kicker than Dez Bryant is a wide receiver. A better kicker than Jason Witten is a tight end. A better kicker than Tyron Smith is a blocker.
There are better quarterbacks in the NFL than Romo, better receivers than Bryant, better tight ends than Witten and better blockers than Smith. But there is no better kicker than Bailey.
But as productive and consistent as he is, the Cowboys found out Sunday he’s not perfect.
Bailey missed a 53-yard field goal at the end of regulation — his first miss of any kick at any distance this season — but bounced back to ram home a 49-yarder in overtime to allow the Cowboys to escape with a 20-17 victory over the Houston Texans.
The 53-yarder was his first miss in more than a year _ since pulling a 56-yarder wide left at San Diego on Sept. 29, 2013. He then made his next 30 field goals, including six from beyond 50 yards, before trotting out to attempt that 53-yarder against the Texans on the final play of regulation.
But Bailey again pulled this long one wide left.
“It felt like it was going to be your run-of-the-mill field goal,” said Cowboys punter Chris Jones, who holds on the placement kicks for Bailey. “We go out, kick it and make it. They all feel routine because we practice so much — different yardages, long, short, it doesn’t matter. We’ve hit them all.
“I guess you can’t be perfect every time.”
Everyone on the Cowboys sideline was surprised. Bailey is as automatic as there is in the NFL. He made 98 of his 107 career field goals before missing Sunday.
You need 100 field goals for placement on the NFL’s all-time accuracy list. Bailey has 99. With his next field goal, Bailey will rank as the most accurate kicker in NFL history. He has converted 90.8 percent of his career attempts. The current record is 86.4 percent by Mike Vanderjagt.
Counting his perfection in 138 career conversion kicks, the Cowboys have sent him out to kick for points 247 times in four seasons and he has returned with points on 237 of them.
Like I said, Bailey is the best at what he does on these Cowboys. No one succeeds 93.8 percent of the time — not Romo, not Bryant, not Witten, not Smith. But Bailey does.
“He’s been money,” Jones said. “He’s always good, solid every time.”
Which is why his miss at the end of regulation was so shocking.
Even Bailey was surprised.
“I go out there with confidence I’m going to make every kick,” Bailey said. “So it was a little surprising. I can go back and look at it on tape and see what I did wrong. I pulled it a little bit. I got through it a little too much. It happens.
“But it was good we got another opportunity to win the game.”
And there was no hesitation on the part of Cowboys coach Jason Garrett to send Bailey back out there in overtime with the game on the line.
So anxious was Garrett to get Bailey onto the field that, on third-and-10 from the Houston 31, the Cowboys coach passed on the chance to use the extra down to draw closer and shorten the field goal.
Garrett had greater trust in Bailey from 49 than he did in an offense that had already committed four penalties, dropped five passes and lost two turnovers in the game. In Bailey, the Cowboys trust.
“This guy is as locked in and focused an individual as I’ve ever been around,” Garrett said. “He’s just unbelievable at what he does. Obviously, we didn’t waver at all.”
It was the ninth winning field goal of Bailey’s career and the fifth in overtime.
“I was 100 percent confident,” Jones said. “I knew it was going in. With Dan, it’s never going to happen two times in a row. Never.”
Little wonder the Cowboys gave Bailey a contract back in January that locks him up through 2020. Perfection — even near perfection — is hard to find in sports. But the Cowboys have found it with Bailey.
Listen to Rick Gosselin at 10:50 a.m. Tuesdays on Sportsradio 1310 AM/96.7 FM The Ticket with Norm Hitzges, and follow @RickGosselinDMN on Twitter.
He’s a better kicker than Tony Romo is a quarterback. A better kicker than Dez Bryant is a wide receiver. A better kicker than Jason Witten is a tight end. A better kicker than Tyron Smith is a blocker.
There are better quarterbacks in the NFL than Romo, better receivers than Bryant, better tight ends than Witten and better blockers than Smith. But there is no better kicker than Bailey.
But as productive and consistent as he is, the Cowboys found out Sunday he’s not perfect.
Bailey missed a 53-yard field goal at the end of regulation — his first miss of any kick at any distance this season — but bounced back to ram home a 49-yarder in overtime to allow the Cowboys to escape with a 20-17 victory over the Houston Texans.
The 53-yarder was his first miss in more than a year _ since pulling a 56-yarder wide left at San Diego on Sept. 29, 2013. He then made his next 30 field goals, including six from beyond 50 yards, before trotting out to attempt that 53-yarder against the Texans on the final play of regulation.
But Bailey again pulled this long one wide left.
“It felt like it was going to be your run-of-the-mill field goal,” said Cowboys punter Chris Jones, who holds on the placement kicks for Bailey. “We go out, kick it and make it. They all feel routine because we practice so much — different yardages, long, short, it doesn’t matter. We’ve hit them all.
“I guess you can’t be perfect every time.”
Everyone on the Cowboys sideline was surprised. Bailey is as automatic as there is in the NFL. He made 98 of his 107 career field goals before missing Sunday.
You need 100 field goals for placement on the NFL’s all-time accuracy list. Bailey has 99. With his next field goal, Bailey will rank as the most accurate kicker in NFL history. He has converted 90.8 percent of his career attempts. The current record is 86.4 percent by Mike Vanderjagt.
Counting his perfection in 138 career conversion kicks, the Cowboys have sent him out to kick for points 247 times in four seasons and he has returned with points on 237 of them.
Like I said, Bailey is the best at what he does on these Cowboys. No one succeeds 93.8 percent of the time — not Romo, not Bryant, not Witten, not Smith. But Bailey does.
“He’s been money,” Jones said. “He’s always good, solid every time.”
Which is why his miss at the end of regulation was so shocking.
Even Bailey was surprised.
“I go out there with confidence I’m going to make every kick,” Bailey said. “So it was a little surprising. I can go back and look at it on tape and see what I did wrong. I pulled it a little bit. I got through it a little too much. It happens.
“But it was good we got another opportunity to win the game.”
And there was no hesitation on the part of Cowboys coach Jason Garrett to send Bailey back out there in overtime with the game on the line.
So anxious was Garrett to get Bailey onto the field that, on third-and-10 from the Houston 31, the Cowboys coach passed on the chance to use the extra down to draw closer and shorten the field goal.
Garrett had greater trust in Bailey from 49 than he did in an offense that had already committed four penalties, dropped five passes and lost two turnovers in the game. In Bailey, the Cowboys trust.
“This guy is as locked in and focused an individual as I’ve ever been around,” Garrett said. “He’s just unbelievable at what he does. Obviously, we didn’t waver at all.”
It was the ninth winning field goal of Bailey’s career and the fifth in overtime.
“I was 100 percent confident,” Jones said. “I knew it was going in. With Dan, it’s never going to happen two times in a row. Never.”
Little wonder the Cowboys gave Bailey a contract back in January that locks him up through 2020. Perfection — even near perfection — is hard to find in sports. But the Cowboys have found it with Bailey.
Listen to Rick Gosselin at 10:50 a.m. Tuesdays on Sportsradio 1310 AM/96.7 FM The Ticket with Norm Hitzges, and follow @RickGosselinDMN on Twitter.
