If you're running out of words to describe Brandon Aubrey, you are not alone. In a career filled with late-game heroics, Aubrey saved his best for Sunday as he rescued the Dallas Cowboys from falling to 0-2 with a game-tying 64-yard field goal at the end of regulation before winning the game in overtime.
What made Aubrey's game-tying FG all the more impressive is that Brian Schottenheimer showed little to no urgency to move the ball past midfield. There were nine seconds left on the clock after Dak Prescott hit Jake Ferguson for an 18-yard completion to bring Dallas to the Giants' 49-yard line.
With two timeouts left, Schottenheimer had time to run another quick pass play to give Aubrey a little more cushion. As Zac Lee noted on The Landry Hat podcast, though, Schottenheimer called a draw play to Javonte Williams and made it clear to Williams to give himself up after getting to the left hash mark.
Cowboys called a run play before Brandon Aubrey's game-tying 64-yard field goal
"It seemed like the coaches said, 'We don't care. We're within 67 yards. We're going to send Brandon Aubrey out there no matter what,'" Lee said.
That is completely diabolical from Schottenheimer, and it confirms how deeply the coaching staff believes in Aubrey. It also affirms that Aubrey is the best kicker in football.
Generally, the only time teams tell a ball-carrier to go down at a specific hash mark before a high-leverage kick is when they’re already inside the red zone or deep in an opponent's territory. But because simply getting that close is usually the bigger concern, hash marks rarely even come into play.
The Cowboys pulled that lever after crossing midfield because they have one of the best kickers of all time at their disposal. After Sunday, Aubrey has now made two field goals of 64 yards or longer. The rest of NFL history has just two. He is a walking record-breaker.
For Schottenheimer to call a draw to Williams there is one thing, but to do so while staring 0-2 in the face during a game that was mentally draining for everyone took some guts. We're not so sure Jimmy Johnson had that much conviction in Troy Aikman.