Brett Maher had hoped to reboot his kicking career with the Los Angeles Rams this season, but he’s not gotten off on the best foot. And now he’s set to return to AT&T Stadium with another (or continued?) case of the yips that got him cut from the Cowboys earlier this year.
Maher missed two field goals (both from over 50 yards) and a PAT try on Sunday in the Rams’ 24-17 loss to Pittsburgh, prompting head coach Sean McVay to remark afterward, “He’s got to be better. That’s seven points that we missed out on, that were key and critical for the momentum of the game and the type of game that it was.”
The 33-year-old has blown multiple kicks in three of the Rams’ seven games thus far this season. He’s had at least one miss in six of his last ten outings, dating back to his infamous meltdown in Tampa. Kicking for the Cowboys in the wild-card round of the postseason in January, Maher missed an NFL-record four extra-point tries in a game Dallas still won handily.
That game put him on a short leash and led the Cowboys to bring in another kicker for the week of practice leading up to the divisional round; Maher missed another PAT versus San Francisco and found himself out of a job in the offseason.
So far with the Rams, he’s been a mixed bag- at the top of the current NFL leaderboard in total field goals made, but near the bottom in conversion percentage.
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Week 8’s game in Arlington was scheduled to be Maher’s return to Dallas after two previous stints with the Cowboys, but even that may be in question now.
Following another shaky performance Sunday, all McVay could promise of his kicker was, “We’ll look at it, and we’ll see.”
The Cowboys are currently six-point favorites– or the equivalent of two missed field goals- to win the matchup.
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