Inside The Huskies

Cowboys Add Ex-Husky Kicker Tristan Vizcaino Just in Case

Dallas has a back-up ready if Brett Maher can't overcome the yips.

Dan Raley

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Dallas Cowboys kicker Brett Maher, who missed four extra points in Monday's playoff win over Tampa Bay, still has his job entering Sunday's divisional round against the San Francisco 49ers.

However, the Cowboys intend to have someone warming up in the bullpen just in case their snake-bit kicker can't get the ball through the uprights again, after falling victim to the yips at the most inopportune time.

That spare kicker, according to several news outlets, will be Tristan Vizcaino, formerly of the University of Washington in 2014-17 and briefly a Cowboy before during the 2020 offseason. 

On Wednesday, Dallas was expected to sign Vizcaino to its practice squad.

Vizcaino played in three games this season for the Arizona Cardinals and the New England Patriots, converting on two of two field-goal attempts and all three of his extra points in the Cardinals' 27-17 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 13.

He's been with eight different NFL franchises in his five seasons since leaving the college ranks, and he's converted 9 of 10 field-goal attempts in his career with a long kick of 47 yards.

Mayer became the first player in any NFL game since 1932 to miss four extra points in a regular-season or playoff game, according to Elias, a span of 16,207 games.

Cowboys general manager Jerry Jones and coach Mike McCarthy have offered public support for their struggling kicker.

In the regular season, Maher made 29 of 32 field-goal attempts, missing from 59 yards twice and 46 yards. He made 50 of 53 extra points but missed his final point-after attempt in the regular-season finale loss to the Washington Commanders, leading to his meltdown against Tampa Bay.

 

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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