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Brandon Aubrey, kicker for the Cowboys, hasn't missed a field goal. Maybe he should.
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- Brandon Aubrey, kicker for the Cowboys, hasn't missed a field goal. Maybe he should.
Lawrence Tynes was an NFL kicker for 12 years. He won two rings with the Giants. He twice made game-winning kicks in the NFC title game during overtime to put New York in the Super Bowl. Yes. He did that. In overtime. Twice.
To say he was good is an understatement. To impress a kicker as good as Tynes takes a lot and let's just say Tynes is impressed with Dallas Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey . It's understandable. What Aubrey is doing is absolutely bonkers . It's beyond bonkers. It's superhuman kicker stuff .
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"I think what he is doing is incredible," Tynes told USA TODAY Sports. "He is much more mature than a typical rookie kicker given his MLS soccer background and USFL experience, but to make 25, 30 kicks in a row at practice is hard, and he has done it in games. Many times from long range.
"A lot of us tenured kickers, guys who kicked for a while, carried demons from previous failures. This guy during games looks like he grabbed a bag of balls and went to a local park to practice kicking. He is so relaxed when I watch him kick on TV."
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Aubrey hasn't missed a field goal try this season. Thirty attempts. No misses. Against the Eagles he made kicks from 59 and 60 yards. He's the first kicker ever to connect on two field goals of 59-plus yards in the same contest.
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Almost as impressive (to a dork like me) is that on two separate kickoffs against the Eagles he hit the crossbar twice in the same half.
"I actually have hit the crossbar twice on kickoffs in a game at Dallas," said Tynes. "Dallas was my favorite place to kick in the NFL (and because he played in the NFC East) I had a lot of games there. I think if you polled NFL kickers it's the best place to kick. The ball just flies in that place and it has visuals where every kick looks really close."
So we're seeing what is a staggeringly good kicker who has developed into a major weapon for the Cowboys, and if he continues on this perfect pace, would have one of the most historic seasons any kicker has ever had.
That's all true.
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"I'm just trying to go out there and do my job," Aubrey said. "Honestly, having the opportunity to do that...there are a lot of guys that don't have the coaches that are willing to give them the opportunity, so just being able to convert those opportunities and keep them coming, it feels good."
But there's one thing to consider: what happens when he misses a field goal try?
I mean, besides the obvious. He'll miss a kick. Even the best do. He's missed some extra points but there's something that Tynes said that's important when it comes to Aubrey and the possibility of missing a field goal.
"Not raining on his parade," said Tynes said, "but I want to see how he performs after he misses a FG. He has missed some PATs but no FGs.
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"I have always said kicking in the NFL is not how many you make in a row, it's what you do after you miss. I'd like to see him miss a FG before the playoffs so he is not carrying all that pressure into postseason play. The pressure is real in the NFL playoffs. It goes up 10x."
Before Cowboys fans get angry what Tynes is saying makes total sense. Missing can mess with a kicker's mind. Not forever. But long enough. The great ones, like Tynes and others, eventually block out the misses. It does take time, though.
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"That's what I'm most interested in," Tynes said. "How will he react after missing a kick? Won't be a bad thing to get that out of the way in (the) regular season to see what it feels like. Kicking is really easy when you are on a roll, but we all know the potential miss is right around the corner every single game."
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Does that sound insane? Yes.
But is Tynes right? Yes.
In the meantime, we'll keep watching one of the best kicking performances we've seen in a long time. Not since the Ravens' Justin Tucker has the kicking obsessed (like me) been so captivated.
I think Aubrey just nailed the crossbar again.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why Dallas Cowboys' kicker Brandon Aubrey should miss a field goal now
