Tag: Bryan Anger

Can Bryan Anger replace Brandon Aubrey on Cowboys kickoffs?

Why the Cowboys may want to swap Bryan Anger with Brandon Aubrey on kickoffs in 2024. | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys struck gold when they inked USFL star Brandon Aubrey to be their new placekicker in 2023. In one of the biggest gambles of the season they turned up their noses at the many veteran kickers on the market and bet the farm on the 28-year-old rookie. It’s safe to say that paid off immensely.

Going 36-for-38, Aubrey stamped his ticket to the Pro Bowl, winning first team All-Pro in his first year. He booted over 90 percent of his kicks for touchback and went 10-for-10 from 50+ yards. He’s the perfect combination of power and accuracy. Unfortunately, the new NFL kicking format may send him, and a few other top field goal kickers, to the bench for kickoffs.

In a quest to make the game of football a safer place, the NFL is once again implementing new rules for kickoffs. These rules fundamentally change the way teams return kicks, cover kicks and even how they populate their rosters. It may also displace some placekickers in the process.

Under the new format, placekickers tee off from their own 35-yard-line. The coverage unit lines up with one foot on the return team’s 40 while the opposing team situates between the 35 and 30, with up to two return men inside the 20. The kicking team can’t move until the ball has been kicked, reducing the speed of collisions and presumably the frequency of injuries as well.

The consequence of this is a kick return takes on the appearance of a regular football play with kickers serving a real role as a tackler. Teams who don’t want to expose their kicker to injury are likely to shy away from such situations. Kansas City has already announced they may not be risking their kicker Harrison Butker to kickoffs in 2024, and other teams are expected to follow.

Proven kickers are extremely valuable for playoff hopeful football teams. Games are often determined by razor thin margins and replacing an All-Pro placekicker midseason could be disastrous for a team like the Cowboys. No one wants to devote an entire roster spot to a kickoff specialist but if someone like the punter could handle kickoffs, field goal kickers could be spared from such injury risks.

Bryan Anger, the Cowboys punter, is himself a valuable special teams player. At age 35, he’s one of the NFL’s most trusted and highest paid players at his respective position. The 2x Pro Bowler has been a fixture in Dallas over the past three seasons and while he’s important for their success, he’s not as important as Aubrey is as a field goal kicker.

Kicking and punting are obviously very different motions and by no means mutually inclusive skills, but many kickers and punters possess a certain level of kicking prowess that overlaps. A full offseason and training camp seem like plenty of time to get a punter up-to-speed on what it takes to be a decent kickoff specialist, especially for someone as athletic as Anger.

While Anger hasn’t attempted kicks since coming to Dallas, he does have eight kickoffs on his resume, the last two of which came with Houston in 2020. His 63.1-yard average would put his average inside the five-yard line, executing the play exactly how the NFL designed it.

Aubrey didn’t show durability concerns in his only NFL season, but he wasn’t forced into many tackling situations either. It’s possible the Cowboys could ask him to kickoff and backoff, staying out of the play as a much as humanly possible in order to preserve his health and safety. But that would give the returning team a decided advantage. It’s also possible the Cowboys would ask him to kick touchbacks all day. But under the new format, kicks sent into the end zone for touchbacks will be placed at the 30-yard line to dissuade this brand of avoidance. The NFL wants returns.

No one wants to see the Cowboys Pro Bowl punter getting hurt trying to tackle a ball carrier on a kickoff but he may ultimately be more replaceable than the Cowboys All-Pro field goal kicker. It’s just one more thing to monitor in training camp as the Cowboys prepare for the new kickoff format in 2024.

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Cowboys stars CeeDee Lamb, Bryan Anger give NFC early lead before Pro Bowl Games’ final day

From @ToddBrock24f7: The Cowboys receiver and punter helped win their respective skills events, with several others slated to compete Sunday.

The NFC will carry a 12-6 lead into the final day of the Pro Bowl Games in Orlando, thanks in large part to the individual efforts of several of the Cowboys’ all-stars.

Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and punter Bryan Anger sealed wins in their respective events Thursday, each earning three points for the conference as they head into the remaining skills competitions and the flag football finale on Sunday. Linebacker/edge rusher Micah Parsons and cornerback DaRon Bland also participated in events but were unable to come away with wins.

But several more Cowboys will still get a chance to extend the NFC’s lead. Kicker Brandon Aubrey will line up against Ravens veteran Justin Tucker in a game of Kick Tac Toe, while defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and offensive guard Tyler Smith will help battle the AFC’s top linemen in Move the Chains.

Lawrence will come back to take a leg in the Gridiron Gauntlet relay race, Parsons will get a shot at redemption in Madden NFL Head-to-Head, and three Cowboys- Anger, Aubrey, and Smith- will compete in a high-stakes Tug-of-War.

The conference that wins each event earns three points that count toward their team’s overall score, with points from the flag football game then being added to crown 2024’s ultimate winner.

Here’s a look at how several Cowboys notables have done so far.

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9 Cowboys named to AP All-Pro teams, led by WR CeeDee Lamb

The Cowboys two best players didn’t make First-Team All-Pro, but the club leads the NFL in players on the 2023 roster. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys apparently have the most great players in the NFL in 2023. A league-high nine members of the club’s 53-man roster were named to the Associated Press’ All-Pro team following the conclusion of the regular season. The leading vote getter for the club was wideout CeeDee Lamb, who fell just one vote shy of being a unanimous selection.

The AP All-Pro team is comprised of the best players at their positions, regardless of conference. Much like the NFLPA All-Pro list revealed earlier in the week, the best Cowboys player on each side of the ball was not named to the First Team. Both quarterback Dak Prescott and edge rusher Micah Parsons have been named to the Second-Team.

Dallas finished with a 12-5 record, tied for the best in their conference while winning the NFC East for the second time in three years. Dallas finished with the same final record as the San Francisco 49ers, but due to a head-to-head loss in Week 5, are the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoff bracket as the tournament is set to kick off. In a likely preview of the MVP voting to be announced in February, Baltimore QB Lamar Jackson took 45 of the 50 first-place votes for quarterback, with Prescott and San Francisco’s Brock Purdy getting two first-place votes each. Prescott had more overall votes than Purdy, earning the Second-Team honor.

The 49ers had seven players between the two teams with five First-Team players, including RB Christian McCaffrey and LB Fred Warner, who were unanimous choices.

Here’s a rundown of who made each from the Cowboys, as well as the full First and Second teams.

 

Raiders shut out of Pro Football Focus All Pro First team

Raiders shut out of Pro Football Focus All Pro First team

While we await the AP All Pro team announcement, other outlets are releasing theirs. Wednesday it was the NFLPA who put out theirs as voted on by the players themselves. On that team, both Maxx Crosby and AJ Cole were first teamers. Thursday it was Pro Football Focus’s turn. And suffice to say, they don’t agree with the players.

Neither Maxx Crosby nor AJ Cole made the PFF All Pro squad. Meaning no Raiders made the team at all. Though Crosby was named second team.

Making the squad at EDGE over Crosby were Myles Garrett and Micah Parsons. Let’s compare some numbers, shall we.

Player Sacks QB Hits Pressures TFL Tkls Pen
Maxx Crosby 14.5 31 94 23** 90* 6
Myles Garrett 14 30 86 17 42 11
Micah Parsons 14 33 103** 18 64 7

*Led all EDGE
**Led the league

Crosby outdid the other two in four of six key statistics — including sacks — and led the league in tackles for loss.

But, you know, grades.

Making the squad over Cole was Bradley Pinion and Bryan Anger. That’s because Cole was not named first or second team. To the numbers!

Player Avg Net avg Long IN 20 TB
AJ Cole 50.4 45.1* 83* 34 6
Bradley Pinion 47 41.5 66 17 3
Bryan Anger 51.4 44.9 63 27 2

*Led the league

This has to be some kind of joke, right? Bradley Pinion had one of the worst average and net averages in the NFL among full time punters and didn’t hold the lead over Cole or Anger in any meaningful statistic. Cole, on the other hand, led the league in two categories and had literally twice as many punts inside the 20 on the same number of punts as Pinion (75).

Sure. That makes perfect sense.

Dak Prescott among 7 Cowboys named to 2024 Pro Bowl

The Pro Bowl votes have been tabulated and seven members of the Dallas Cowboys have been honored as among the best at their positions. Through a process that allegedly has equal parts fan voting, player and coaching input, the NFL has announced the …

The Pro Bowl votes have been tabulated and seven members of the Dallas Cowboys have been honored as among the best at their positions. Through a process that allegedly has equal parts fan voting, player and coaching input, the NFL has announced the first wave of their all-stars for the 2023 season.

Led by quarterback Dak Prescott, all three phases of the team will be well represented at this year’s festivities in Orlando, FL. The Pro Bowl is no longer an actual game, but rather a series of events meant to celebrate the best of the best. Here’s who has been named to the initial team.

Cowboys hit by seasonal bug; key DL and team’s lone punter questionable for Sunday

Quinton Bohanna has missed 2 straight days with an illness but is expected to play Sunday; Bryan Anger sat out on Friday. | From @ToddBrock24f7

NFL players may seem nearly invincible, capable of superhuman feats as well as astonishing recovery times.

But even the most talented athletes on the planet, apparently, are susceptible to cold and flu season.

The Cowboys’ end-of-week practice report lists six key players as questionable for Sunday’s matchup with the 8-1 Vikings. While Ezekiel Elliott, DeMarcus Lawrence, Anthony Barr, and Anthony Brown are considered iffy based on injuries, two of their teammates got the same designation for something else.

Nose tackle Quinton Bohanna and punter Bryan Anger sat out Friday’s walkthrough due to “illness.”

While the exact nature of the ailments wasn’t specified, Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, in his press conference earlier in the day, chalked it up to basic winter crud.

“Some stuff going around, you know?” he told reporters.

Then he noticeably sniffled and raised his own hand. “It happens.”

Does that make McCarthy questionable, too? The coach had to miss a late-season game against the Saints in 2021 after testing positive for COVID; would he be ruled out of the trip north to the Twin Cities because of a wintertime bug?

“No,” McCarthy scoffed. “Everybody else in my house has it, but I’m not allowed to have it.”

Bohanna’s massive 360-pound frame would figure to be among the keys to stuffing the Vikings’ run game and lead back Dalvin Cook. While the Kentucky product has now missed two straight days of practice, McCarthy said he expects his eight-game starter to suit up again in Week 11.

Friday’s absence was the first for the veteran Anger, who is currently averaging 42.5 net yards per punt and was last season’s Pro Bowl specialist at the position. He is the only punter the team has on the roster and is also their holder on field goal and PAT attempts.

Cowboys fans will hope that Bohanna and Anger are able to load up on chicken noodle soup and vitamin C in time to sufficiently rebound for Sunday’s late-afternoon kickoff.

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A 2021 All Pro picking up where he left off among Cowboys 3 stars

The performance as a team wasn’t anything to right home about, but there were some individual efforts to celebrate. | From @CDPiglet

The Dallas Cowboys started 2022 a lot like they ended 2021, committing 17 penalties for 129 yards. Those penalties extended three scoring drives for the Denver Broncos, and also cost Dallas such as an interception for the defense and big plays both rushing and passing for the offense. Going into the fourth quarter the Cowboys had more penalty yards than they had rushing or passing yards.

It might be hard to find stars in a sloppy, noncompetitive contest, but there were some bright spots for the Cowboys in Denver.

2022 Free agency: Cowboys bring back All-Pro P Bryan Anger on 3-year deal

While the Cowboys released their kicker, they’re bringing back punter Bryan Anger on a deal that keeps him in Dallas through 2024. | From @CDBurnett7

The Dallas Cowboys won’t be rewriting their entire kicking game after all. Two of three members of the kicking unit were free agents and the Cowboys released kicker Greg Zuerlein earlier in the offseason. Word had already come out they did not intend to re-sign their punter, who just happened to be one of the best at his position in the league last season.

But with cap space a plenty and no apparent want to spend it on outsiders, Dallas has used that money to turn and bring back second-team All-Pro punter Bryan Anger on a three-year, $9 million deal. While the situation is still unknown at the kicker position, Anger was one of the most consistent Cowboys in 2021 and brings that for three more years.

In 2021, Anger was fourth in the NFL in punt average with 48.4 yards. The Dallas offense grew stagnant on multiple occasions during last season and Anger’s play bailed them out by flipping field position regardless of how for the Cowboys were backed up.

Dallas opted for bringing back Anger instead of finding a different talent for cheaper. It’s rare in recent years considering John Fassel’s tendency to sign familiar faces from his days as a Rams coach, but Anger’s value was too much for the Cowboys to let go and now they have him through 2024.

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Punter Bryan Anger not expected back with Cowboys after Pro Bowl season

The Cowboys’ John Fassel waited a long time to get the Cal punter, but a career year may have priced him out of Dallas after one season. | From @ToddBrock24f7

For many football fans, punters don’t matter. That is, until theirs leads the league in net average, sets a franchise record in the process, earns a trip to the Pro Bowl, and then is named as someone the team won’t bring back because they want to go a cheaper route due to a long string of questionable money moves.

Veteran punter Bryan Anger is unlikely to return to Dallas in 2022, according to Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News, after dramatically outperforming a league-minimum contract in 2021. The 33-year-old joined the Cowboys last April on a one-year deal worth $1.08 million.

Special teams coordinator John “Bones” Fassel had long been a fan of Anger, and when the former third-round draft pick was released by Houston, the Cowboys pounced. Incumbent Hunter Niswander stuck around for a portion of training camp but was let go as the regular season approached in favor of the former UC-Berkeley product.

Anger put up huge numbers, averaging an impressive 48.4 yards per punt on 65 attempts, a mark that was good for fourth place across the NFL. But it’s Anger’s league-leading 44.6-yard net average that meant even more and etched Anger’s name in the Cowboys’ history books.

“Really, I’m proud of the net punt record for the Cowboys,” Fassel told media members in January as the team prepared for the postseason, “because it’s a season-long thing. It’s not like, ‘Hey, this was a great game or this one amazing punt.’ … Everyone had to be pretty darn good to flip the field, and, really, that’s the goal: you want the biggest net because you want to put our defense on the field as far away from our end zone as possible. … So, you know, really attributable to Bryan and his teammates, and pretty awesome.”

The rest of the league no doubt noticed, too. And now Anger is expected to draw interest in the way of a more lucrative contract that may lure him out of Dallas after just one season. The fact that Dallas has 20-some pending free agents and serious work to do to get under the salary cap make it all the more likely they’ll continue their bargain-hunting ways when it comes to the punter position.

It’s a source of frustration for many Cowboys fans who are already hearing that the club is considering a parting of ways with superstars like Amari Cooper and DeMarcus Lawrence over money. Just this week, the organization placed a $10.93 million tag on tight end Dalton Schultz, who many deem quite replaceable at a lesser price. Now comes the suggestion that they can’t even afford to keep their punter.

If 2021 proves to be Anger’s only year wearing the star, it was at least a memorable one.

“It’s been a privilege to work with Bones, and our special teams has been amazing,” Anger said just after the Cowboys’ playoff loss to San Francisco. “This is the funnest year I’ve had, as a team.”

2022 will no doubt be at least more profitable for Anger, if not more fun. And it seems likely those larger paychecks will come from a new team.

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Wild-card round good, bad, ugly: Cowboys failed in myriad of ways vs 49ers

The Cowboys couldn’t overcome a bad game plan and poor discipline in their wild card loss to the San Francisco 49ers. | From @BenGrimaldi

Another season, another disappointing ending for the Dallas Cowboys. This year it came at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers, in a home wild-card round playoff game, 23-17.

In a contest where the Cowboys had to play their best football in order to save their season, they played undisciplined and uninspired. In a win or go home situation, in a game where they had yet another chance to show they were a different version of the Cowboys than the last 25 iterations, they demonstrated that although the players and coaches were different, nothing really had changed.

The 49ers beat the Cowboys as much as the Cowboys beat themselves in a tough-to-watch playoff performance.

Winning the NFC East was fun, as was winning six straight and making Cowboys Nation believe things were different this year. In the end, though, it was the same type of issues that had plagued the Cowboys all year that got them dismissed from the playoffs. Bad penalties at the worst times and an offense that never found their rhythm cost Dallas their season.

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from the Cowboys’ wild card loss to the 49ers.