Rookie kicker Dan Bailey has been money all season, making 24 in a row and 25-of-26. That includes his 39-yard overtime field goal that beat the Redskins on Sunday.
"You’ve just got to go out there and execute it when you’re supposed to," Bailey said. "It’s not all me. I’ve got good blocking and obviously the offense and the defense played really well today. It’s not just me out there. It’s 10 other guys."
Bailey has been unflappable since missing a 21-yarder early against the 49ers. He redeemed himself in that game with a 19-yard field goal in overtime. That gave him confidence for Sunday's kick.
“It’s tough to recreate those situations in practice,” Bailey said. “You can to an extent, but yeah, definitely having that earlier in the season kind of helped me mentally with knowing what to expect.”
He is three field goals short of tying Chris Boniol's team record for consecutive field goals. Boniol, now the team's kicking coach, made 27 in a row in 1996.
"You know I’m too concerned about that right now," Bailey said. "The only record I’m concerned about is our win-loss record and hopefully we can get a couple of more wins and keep it rolling."
After three years of ups and downs with their kickers, the Cowboys finally seem to have hit on one. He is playing the best of any Cowboys' kicker since Nick Folk's rookie season in 2007.
"We all have a tremendous amount of trust in Dan and our whole operation," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "There is too much evidence. He’s done such a good job with every opportunity we’ve given him this year. He has a tremendous amount of poise and is... very consistent in technique. We’re going to keep giving him some chances and hopefully he’ll keep doing what he’s been doing."
-- Charean Williams
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