IRVING, Texas –When head coach Jason Garrett talks about the team's faith in kicker Dan Bailey, here's what he means: for four straight weeks, the Cowboys have asked Bailey to either end a game or send it into overtime.
Lot of pressure on a rookie.
Twice (Washington, Miami) he won it in the final seconds. The last two games (Arizona, NY Giants), he has watched two more successful attempts negated by timeouts. The official kicks fell short.
Bailey's moved on. He said the second 47-yard attempt against the Giants was hit "really well -- No. 90 (defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul) just made a good play."
The Cowboys have played six games decided by a field goal or less. Chances are Bailey's number will get called late again. Good and bad, he says the experiences help.
"Obviously situations like that don't come up very often in a season," said Bailey, who is 31-of-35 this year. "So to have it happen so many times this season sometimes necessarily isn't the best thing, but you have to take the positives from them.
"All I can do is look at it like, hey, I have experience now. These situations have presented themselves numerous times and hopefully the rest of my career if those situations come up I'll be even more prepared."
