DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - Dallas Cowboys kicker Greg Zuerlein is placing the blame on his leg following the team's 31-29 Week 1 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night.
Zuerlein, who was just activated from the physically unable to perform list ahead of the Cowboys' final preseason game after undergoing offseason back surgery, had a rough night, going 3 for 5 on his field-goal attempts, and 2 for 3 on his extra-point tries.
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"If I did my job, we win that game. I feel bad for the guys in there that played their ass off, and I didn’t hold up my end of the deal. ... We’re right there. I just have to do my job," Zuerlein said on the Cowboys postgame show on 105.3 The Fan.
Zuerlein's first miss came in the second quarter from just 31-yards out on a kick that went so far wide left that it didn't even hit the kicking net.
On the Cowboys' ensuing possession, Zuerlein clanked his 33-yard extra-point attempt off of the left upright.
And at the end of the first-half, head coach Mike McCarthy trotted him out there to attempt a 60-yard field goal attempt, which he left just short.
The 33-year-old redeemed himself by the end of the night when he nailed a 48-yarder to put the Cowboys up 29-28 with 1:29 left in the game.
But that proved to be too much time for Tom Brady and the Bucs, as they marched down the field to allow their kicker, Ryan Succop, to make a game-winning 36-yarder.
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"Obviously, you'd like to see him make those kicks, McCarthy said after the game. "It's really part of the reason I went for the 60-yarder. I have great faith and confidence in him. He made a clutch, clutch kick there at the end to give us the lead before the two-minute drive, but when you get in a game like that, you need all the points you can get."
McCarthy's right. Zuerlein's fourth-quarter kick was not just clutch, but it also probably saved the kicker's job with how poorly he had performed earlier in the game.
The Cowboys will likely move forward with him as their guy for at least another week, but they can't afford too many more nights like the one he had tonight.
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