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Posted by jellis at 11/22/2010 6:32 PM CST on truebluefanclub.com
With their coverage team struggling too often this year, the Cowboys are asking David Buehler to angle his kickoffs toward the sideline more often this season, wheras a year ago most of his league-high 29 touchbacks seemed to come from him simply driving the ball.
Twice on Sunday the strategy worked perfectly, but it also comes with some risk, the consequences of which were seen as well.
Three times this year Buehler has pushed the envelope too far. Twice in as many weeks he has kicked the ball out of bounds, allowing opponents to start at the 40-yard line.
Sunday's miscue came at the 11:15 mark of the fourth quarter, right after Jon Kitna's second touchdown pass to Miles Austin.
"I tried to pin him in the corner," Buehler said. "(Stefan) Logan's a good returner. He can't work in tight spaces, so the next one I was thinking about kicking outward more than kicking wider - kicking down the field ... An outward swing, keep your swing path outward toward the numbers instead of place the ball. That one kind of went off my toe. You're still flirting with the sidelines. The last one I definitely tried to be a little bit more cautious than I was."
Asked about the kicks on Monday, Jason Garrett was supportive of Buehler to a point.
"It's a case of the directional kicking just being a little bit off, I think," Garrett said. "He had a couple touchbacks yesterday and did a nice job against a very good returner, trapping him deep in the end zone and making it hard for him, but he did have the one that went out of bounds, and those are big plays that give them, obviously, some very favorable field position.
"But he's been a very good kicker. He's been a very good kickoff guy. But he's got to make sure he's more consistent with those directional kicks."
With their coverage team struggling too often this year, the Cowboys are asking David Buehler to angle his kickoffs toward the sideline more often this season, wheras a year ago most of his league-high 29 touchbacks seemed to come from him simply driving the ball.
Twice on Sunday the strategy worked perfectly, but it also comes with some risk, the consequences of which were seen as well.
Three times this year Buehler has pushed the envelope too far. Twice in as many weeks he has kicked the ball out of bounds, allowing opponents to start at the 40-yard line.
Sunday's miscue came at the 11:15 mark of the fourth quarter, right after Jon Kitna's second touchdown pass to Miles Austin.
"I tried to pin him in the corner," Buehler said. "(Stefan) Logan's a good returner. He can't work in tight spaces, so the next one I was thinking about kicking outward more than kicking wider - kicking down the field ... An outward swing, keep your swing path outward toward the numbers instead of place the ball. That one kind of went off my toe. You're still flirting with the sidelines. The last one I definitely tried to be a little bit more cautious than I was."
Asked about the kicks on Monday, Jason Garrett was supportive of Buehler to a point.
"It's a case of the directional kicking just being a little bit off, I think," Garrett said. "He had a couple touchbacks yesterday and did a nice job against a very good returner, trapping him deep in the end zone and making it hard for him, but he did have the one that went out of bounds, and those are big plays that give them, obviously, some very favorable field position.
"But he's been a very good kicker. He's been a very good kickoff guy. But he's got to make sure he's more consistent with those directional kicks."
