The Cowboys will have to make do without the NFL’s all-time most accurate kicker for at least the next two weeks. Coach Jason Garrett said Dan Bailey’s strained right groin will necessitate a change in kickers for the short term.
“We do anticipate him being out . . . at least a couple weeks,” Garrett said, via Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News.
Safety Jeff Heath made two of three extra points as an emergency kicker, becoming the first non-kicker to make an extra point since Wes Welker in 2010. Heath tweaked his left ankle during the game, and Garrett said long snapper L.P. Ladouceur was next in line to kick if Heath hadn’t returned.
The Cowboys will sign a kicker Tuesday after working out several. ESPN’s Field Yates said the kickers are Mike Nugent, Jason Myers, Sam Irwin Hill and Younghoe Koo.
“We’re looking at a few guys,” executive vice president Stephen Jones said on his weekly radio show on 105.3 The Fan. “It’s probably not going to be Dan Bailey unfortunately. But we are going to have to look at signing a kicker because this could be more than a week at a time. So, we’ll have to look at the guys that we obviously think will do the best job for us.
“You’ve got to applaud Jeff Heath for his efforts yesterday that a safety could come in like that and make some extra points and have a few nice kickoffs. Certainly nice to have him on the roster. But we will, probably 99 percent chance, be signing a kicker this week. We just don’t know who yet.”
It means the Cowboys will have to carry two kickers until Bailey returns, straining their roster.
“It does put a little bit of a strain,” Garrett said. “You have to make a decision at another position in order to keep two kickers. That’s not natural for a team to do. But . . . we don’t think the injury’s that severe to put him on IR. He’s certainly someone we’re going to keep up on the roster. We do have to get another kicker in here to function this week.”