Cowboys News: Mike McCarthy ends Brett Maher speculation, Divisional Round schedule

The Dallas Cowboys played a nearly perfect game of football Monday night. In doing so, Mike McCarthy secured his first playoff win with Dallas, and ended the franchise’s 30-year drought in terms of winning a road playoff game.

The victory should put all speculation about McCarthy’s future on ice. The same, however, cannot be said for starting kicker Brett Maher, who may not be long for that title after his historical meltdown against the Buccaneers.

Maher missed four extra points in the game, including his first three attempts. His misses kept Tampa Bay within striking distance despite the fact the Cowboys thoroughly dominated the game over the first three quarters.

Better teams would’ve made Dallas pay for leaving points on the board. Four points should be treasured in a playoff game, and the normally-reliable Maher, for whatever reason, got the yips and wasn’t even close on his efforts.

Like most Cowboys fans, the ESPN broadcast — specifically Troy Aikman — speculated if Maher could get released after his nightmare.

While anything should be on the table after a choke job of that magnitude, Mike McCarthy threw a wet blanket on the idea that Maher’s job is in jeopardy.

More Cowboys News:

• Jerry Jones doubled down on McCarthy’s remarks on Maher. When asked if the Cowboys will look at kickers this week, Jones said “No. No. We won’t. He’s (Maher) done enough good ones (extra points). While Maher was great during the regular season, there’s no telling where his confidence is at right now, meaning it’s anyone’s guess if he’ll rebound against the 49ers.
• Appearing on 105.3 The Fan, however, Jones gave a more detailed answer on Maher’s job security, saying “I thought when he came out at halftime, watched him warm up out there. He was making all the kicks. I figured that was behind him, but we will take a look at it. We can’t be really a big setback to go into the rest of this tournament, rest of this playoff with shakiness at kicker.”
• Speaking of San Francisco, the NFL confirmed the Divisional Round schedule. Cowboys fans will love hearing there’s no Monday night game this weekend. Instead, Cowboys-49ers will get the Sunday night slot. The game will kickoff right after Bills vs Bengals at approximately 5:30 p.m. CT.

NFL News:

• The Chargers fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi after the team’s second half collapse against Jacksonville. LA’s rushing attack ranked near the bottom of the league and they converted less than 55% of their red zone drives into touchdowns (17th) and their goal-to-goal percentage ranked 23rd.
• Vikings WR Justin Jefferson made cryptic comments about his future after Minnesota’s loss to the Giants. “I mean, I will be wherever I’m wanted. If they want me here, I’m here. That’s not something I can really control,” Jefferson said. Could he be the next star receiver to hit the trade market?
• Tom Brady seemingly ushered a goodbye statement to the Buccaneers in his postgame press conference Monday night. It’s uncertain if Brady is pondering retirement, but if he continues it likely won’t be in Tampa Bay.

3 kickers Cowboys must sign immediately after Brett Maher’s nightmare

Brett Maher had the worst night of his NFL career Monday night, and the Cowboys need to look into signing these kickers for the Divisional Round.