FRISCO, Texas – If Jerry Jones had any concerns about his kicker, he said they evaporated with one kick of the football.
The Cowboys' owner/general manager touched on a number of different topics during his weekly interview with 105.3 FM The Fan on Tuesday morning. Among them was a question of his doubts about Brett Maher, who has had his share of struggles in recent weeks – along with a game-winning field goal.
"Well, I think that it all went away when that ball barely got in to that goal post, period," Jones said. "That all went away. Why, I knew he was going to make the next one."
It's a fair question to ask, given how the last month has gone for the rookie kicker. Maher missed his first kick of the season and then proceeded to reel off 16 makes in a row during September and October.
It has been dicey in the past month, though. Maher has missed in four consecutive games dating back to Oct. 21 – on field goals of 55, 38 and 42, and then a missed extra point Sunday.
To be fair to him, Maher also nailed a 50-yarder in that win against Atlanta, and then there's the obvious boost from the game-deciding field goal. Add it all up, and Jones said he's not sweating the position.
"I don't want to create any doubt or anything like that," he said. "Let's just get up here, and we've got to have him. Obviously, we're going to need him to kick some extra points and field goals if we do anything at all here."
Jones also cleared up some details surrounding Geoff Swaim's wrist injury. Cowboys coach Jason Garrett revealed Monday night that the veteran tight end suffered a broken bone in his wrist and would require surgery, but he didn't provide a timeline for return.
According to Jones, it sounds like Swaim could be back in the lineup within the next month or so.
"I think Geoff will be out three to four weeks," he said.
That's a tough blow for Swaim, who has tallied 242 yards and a touchdown to this point – although at least it's not a season-ending issue.
"It's a shame he got that, but, boy, he came out smoking and came back for that ball on that first play and just looked like how a professional tight end ought to look like," Jones said. "I'm sorry for this setback for our team, as well as Geoff. But I think overall it's an injury who we can get back."
