It was, on a night when very little went right for the Cowboys, perhaps the most obvious sign that things were going to end poorly.
Brandon Aubrey missing a field goal is always a surprising development, but watching him blow a second kick in the same game feels like breaking a mirror while walking under a ladder just as a black cat crosses your path… and then having an anvil fall on your head, Wile E. Coyote-style.
The third-year kicking phenom’s two misses weren’t the sole reason (or even the main reason) for the Cowboys’ 34-26 loss to Minnesota in Week 15, but they were certainly a fair representation of how unexpected and shocking the game’s final result was to fans, players, and coaches alike.
“I actually said it in there; we’re spoiled with Brandon Aubrey, you know what I’m saying?” Schottenheimer remarked in his postgame press conference. “He’s such a great player.”
Easily forgotten in the devastating loss is Aubrey’s fake field goal in the first quarter, a six-yard run (his first career rushing attempt) to successfully move the chains and extend a touchdown drive for Dallas.
Aubrey also, notably, made four other field goal attempts, the first time in his career he’s tried six field goals in a single game.
And yet, Aubrey is human. Having missed only two field goals all season through 13 games, the two-time Pro Bowler doubled that total Sunday night, sending both a 51- and a 59-yard try wide right.
After the game, the former soccer star took the two errant boots in stride, having already analyzed what went wrong.
“Struck the first one well [from] 51, just left it a little right of the target,” Aubrey told reporters after the game. “And then off the toe for the second one from 59. Pretty easy fixes for me.”
(Just for a moment, stop and think about how, just a few years ago, any field goal try from over 50 yards was a pretty iffy proposition. Since Aubrey entered the league, the Cowboys treat anything from the midfield stripe and closer as just about automatic.)
As stunning as the multiple misses were to watch, Aubrey pointed out that, even though the misfires are rare for him, a night like this happened before.
“I’ve had days like this every year; I’ve had one, specifically, every year,” he said. “I bounce back those years and just do the same thing. Nothing needs to change in the process.”
Indeed, Aubrey also missed a pair of field goals in the 2023 regular-season finale of his rookie season. Then it happened again last year, in Week 12’s meeting with the Commanders. Both games, coincidentally enough, were played at Northwest Stadium. Both were Cowboys wins over Washington.
This was the first game in which Aubrey has missed multiple field goals at home. But it was also the first time he’s missed in a close loss; all of Aubrey’s previous misses came in either Cowboys wins or contests they lost by double digits.
Aubrey’s long-distance misses Sunday not only kept six points off the scoreboard for Dallas, they gave the Vikings two possessions with a very short field. Minnesota turned those drives into 10 points. If both kicks had connected and the Cowboys defense had held the Vikes scoreless on the subsequent full-field drives that followed deep kickoffs, the 34-26 loss just might have been a 32-24 win.
“We were making field goals rather than getting some touchdowns,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said outside the locker room Sunday night, “and that ended up biting us, especially when we missed the two that we missed.”
But given Aubrey’s 90.4% career make percentage coming into the Week 15 game and his ownership of the NFL record for most field goals from 60 yards or beyond, Schottenheimer was emphatic about the confidence he had in his kicker, even trotting him out for the 59-yard fourth-quarter try after he had missed earlier from 51.
“I had no question in my mind he was going to make it,” Schottenheimer explained, “and I feel good about that decision.”
As for Aubrey, he knows it wasn’t his best night. But in a job where success depends on completely forgetting about your most recent mistake so that it doesn’t affect your next opportunity, the unflappable Aubrey had already flushed Sunday’s uncharacteristic misses, ready to tee it up and go again when called upon.
“You play the game long enough, you’re going to have some days like this,” he said.
He could have just as easily been talking about the Cowboys team as a whole.
Todd is on X at @ToddBrock24f7. Also, follow Cowboys Wire on Facebook to join in on the conversation with fellow fans!
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys super kicker Aubrey defiant about rare misses: ‘Nothing needs to change’
Reporting by Todd Brock, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
