3-Point Plan Short Memory Critical For Buehler

IRVING, Texas - In examining what the Cowboys must improve to climb out of a 0-2 hole, entire units are typically generalized. The offense must score more than one offensive touchdown per game, or the defense must create turnovers, or the special team’s coverage must limit opponents' starting field position.
Though he has a snapper and a holder, David Buehler essentially stands alone in the court of nfl throwback jerseys
public opinion. NFL kickers toil in a harsh, lonely spotlight when the ball lands outside the uprights.
He is now 2-for-4 in his first two NFL games as a full-time place-kicker, missing a critical field goal attempt in each of the Cowboys' two losses. In both situations - a 34-yarder against the Washington Redskins, and a 44-yarder against the Chicago Bears - the kick would've tied the game.
Sunday at Houston, Buehler gets another chance to prove he can stabilize a position of confounding inconsistency over the past several seasons. Mores than ever, he'll have to utilize kicking consultant Chris Bonior’s "one-for-one" approach that helped him earn the job at the end of preseason:
Good or bad, forget the last kick.
"He has always been real good about coming back for the next one," said Bonior, who has helped transform Buehler from a rookie kickoff specialist and NFL touchback leader (29) to a more polished field goal kicker this off-season. "He's done that in practice throughout the off-season and training camp, whether it is a poor kick or whatever, he's always done a good job of coming back. You just don't want to have to do that every game."
Buehler did make a 48-yarder later in the fourth quarter last Sunday, three critical points that might have saved a kicking search this week. He was virtually perfect in five weeks of daily public training camp practices except for one noticeably erratic day, when he missed three of seven attempts Aug. 19 in Oxnard, Calif.
"I had an off day," Buehler said then. "Luckily I have a game to redeem myself."
He didn't have an attempt in either of the next two preseason games, but finally got four tries in the finale against the Miami Dolphins. He made all four, including the game-winner from 31 yards.
That mental makeup, owner Jerry Jones says, along with his powerful leg, tell him instinctively to stay patient with the 23-year-old - even as the team stares down the muzzle of a 0-3 start.
"He's hitting the ball well, he's got a strong leg," Jones said Tuesday on his weekly San Diego Chargers jersey
radio show. "We know what the alternatives are. All of those don't add up to making any type of change there. We've got a chance to have what we think is a really fine kicker and we wanted to see this thing through."
In analyzing Buehler's two misses, Bonior said he appeared to hurry his delivery on the 34-yarder against Washington. Sunday, on the 44-yarder that sailed wide left, Bonior said Buehler "just got around on it too much, didn't strike it well."
"That stuff you always work on," he said. "You always work on ball strike, you always work on tempo, and those things are very important."
Phillips said a change isn't feasible in part because the top free-agent kickers (perhaps he meant Kris Brown, Matt Stover) aren't reliable from 40 yards and beyond. Buehler's ability to drive long distances is an asset; Bonior has worked on shaping his accuracy, long and short.

The Cowboys can't afford a repeat of past seasons. In 2006, high-priced Mike Vanderjagt - then the most accurate kicker of all time - didn't last past Thanksgiving. Last year, Nick Folk was released in December after missing seven of his previous 11 kicks, seemingly never fully recovered from off-season hip surgery. His league-high 10 misses contributed heavily to the Cowboys' 24th overall ranking in red zone efficiency.
The games are usually too close. Last year, eight of the Cowboys' 16 games were decided by a touchdown or less.
The Cowboys gave Folk every chance until they simply couldn't rely on him any longer. Clearly, they feel it's too early to give up on Buehler.
"I look at him this last game kind of like our team," Phillips said. "He was two out of Chicago Bears jersey
three (Sunday), and that's about where we were. Two out of three plays we were real good, but that third play …
"The percentages over 40 yards are not going to be great. I'd like for him to make them all. I've been through it with kickers before, and I think once … you got to let them, you got to give them a chance before you say, 'Hey, you can't do it at all.'"