Dan Bailey may need to spend some extra time in the cold tub this week after all those kickoffs on Sunday. Eight scores for the Cowboys will do that.
Or, better yet, he should just stick to whatever his routine has been. Not to mention the fact he continued his impressive streak of consecutive field goals made, now at 22, Bailey took over the kickoff duties from David Buehler, who was placed on the injured reserve this week, and promptly nailed a career-high six touchbacks against Buffalo.
"I think it's something that I can still improve on," Bailey said. "Obviously, David has one of the strongest legs in the league, so I think it's kind of hard to compare me to him. He has an elite leg as far as power goes. I'm just trying to go out there and do the best I can. It makes it a little easier kicking it inside here. I still need to work on direction, hangtime, things like that."
Bailey now has 12 touchbacks on his 31 kickoffs for the season. His touchback percentage is 38.7 percent, which is middle of the road, but his field goal percentage is now 95.8, the product of 23-for-24 kicking. He drilled all three of his kicks in the second half, from 45, 36 and 31 yards out.
Bailey is five made field goals short of tying his kicking coach, Chris Boniol, for the longest streak in Cowboys history. Boniol connected on 27 in a row for the club in 1996. At the current rate, Bailey also has a chance to edge Emmitt Smith's team record for points scored in a season, on pace for 153 through nine games. Smith scored 150 in 1995, when he had 25 rushing touchdowns.
"It's obviously a good thing if you can hit 27 straight," Bailey said. "My job is just to go out there and put them through, so if that means 27 in a row, OK.
"It's a pretty good feeling. It's good to string a couple kicks together and get into a groove."
