Brett Maher is making the decision to release Dan Bailey a non-factor

It was, and remains to be, very difficult to understand completely why the Dallas Cowboys wanted to move on from the second-most accurate kicker of all time in Dan Bailey.

Bailey has moved on, coming off of a three field goal performance for the Minnesota Vikings in a Week 3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. The Cowboys find themselves 2-2 with a brand new kicker who is sort of, kind of, actually is definitely on fire. His name is Brett Maher.

Maher missed his first career kick during the season opener in Carolina, but since then he has absolutely been en fuego. In fact, since that miss we’ve seen Maher connected on eight consecutive field goals, including the game-winner against Detroit.

When the Cowboys scored their second touchdown of the game in the third quarter (Dak Prescott to Geoff Swaim) the world saw Maher kick his extra point from the left hash. Kickers actually have the option to choose where they want to kick XPs from, and seeing as that was the side Maher kicked the game-winning field goal from I found it interesting so I asked him about it after the game.

We just get to pick what side we want the extra points on. I picked that side. I don’t know that I’m necessarily more comfortable, but that’s one we always go to.

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When the Cowboys elected to go with Maher people looked to find a reason for it; we talked about how the move was hard to understand up at the top of this. People have proposed salary, Maher’s big leg, and all sorts of reasons, but perhaps the ultimate reason is that he’s just the best kicker they feel like they’ve seen as far as everything goes for this season.

This isn’t an indictment or knock of any kind against Dan Bailey, but Brett Maher is proving why the Cowboys believed in him. With the exception of a rainy day in Carolina he is literally perfect on the season. That’s impressive no matter who the kicker is; it’s time to celebrate Maher.

The Cowboys might just have an eye for kickers, they seem to have found something special in Maher. Here’s to what is hopefully the first of many game-winning kicks.