IRVING, Texas – A perfect performance from Dan Bailey just happened to come on a less than perfect day for the Cowboys.
The kicker made all three field goals in Sunday's loss, including a 51-yard kick and a 53-yard kick, the latter of which was the longest of his career and cut the Cowboys' deficit to one point in the fourth quarter against the Chiefs.
"His approach is really, really good in terms of how he goes about it every single day to get himself ready to be his best," said head coach Jason Garrett. "Just a really good football player. We have a lot of confidence in him and we'll put him in those situations to help us win ballgames. We've done it before, and we'll keep doing it." [embedded_ad]
Garrett elected to kick the 53-yard field goal while trailing by four points with 3:55 remaining in the game. It was a fourth-and-10 situation, and he said he would have considered going for it had the Cowboys been in a more manageable spot to attain a first down.
"When it went to fourth-and-10, it becomes less manageable so give him a chance to kick it," Garrett said. "That was the thought process. If it was more manageable to make that, fourth-and-3 and fourth-and-4, something like that, that was the thought. As soon as it went to fourth-and-10, let's let him kick it. Let's play the clock the right way and go."
Bailey's only two misses last season came on kicks of at least 50-plus yards. He's now 6-of-6 on the season, including the two 50-plus yard kicks Sunday afternoon. His three field goals Sunday marked his 12th career game with three or more field goals, tying him for second in franchise history behind Rafael Septien. They also tied for the most in the league since 2011.
The Cowboys' kicker has now connected on 20 consecutive field goals. Bailey leads all kickers this season with 22 points on the year.
"He's a fantastic player and has been since the minute he got here," Garrett said. "He's very talented.
