As his team was coasting to a dominant first half during Monday night’s playoff game against the Buccaneers, Cowboys kicker Brett Maher had a night to forget. And Peyton Manning just couldn’t believe it.
After Dallas scored its third touchdown in as many possessions to close out the second quarter, Maher was sent onto the field despite having missed his first two extra point attempts. When a third one was pulled wide left, Manning couldn’t help but show his frustration.
“Why are we kicking it? Why are we kicking it?” Manning cried in vain, channeling the energy of every dad watching from the couch at home.
Manning’s frustration reached a boiling point, as he quipped about cutting Maher at halftime just before ESPN’s ManningCast cut to commercial. Surely he was joking, but the remark underscored just how abysmal the kicking performance had been to that point, as it was the first time a kicker had missed three extra points in a single game.
Maher’s night only got worse from there. After the Cowboys scored on their opening possession of the third quarter to take a 24–0 lead, Maher once again missed the PAT. This time, though Manning took a more sympathetic approach: “Bless his heart.”
Mercifully, Maher made his fifth extra-point attempt after the Cowboys scored again in the fourth quarter to make it 31–6.
