The Dallas Cowboys are playing it safe in case Brett Maher can’t recover.
While the Cowboys plan to stick with Maher as their kicker for their Divisional Round matchup against the San Francisco 49ers, they are signing kicker Tristan Vizcaino to the practice squad as an insurance policy, according to multiple reports.
During Monday night’s wild-card game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Maher became the first NFL kicker in history to miss three extra points in a playoff game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, and he ultimately missed four out of five point-after tries.
Maher, 33, went undrafted out of Nebraska in 2013. After stints in the CFL and bouncing around NFL practice squads, he made his NFL debut for the Cowboys in 2018. He has made 81 percent of his regular-season field-goal attempts and 95 percent of his extra-point attempts.
Vizcaino, 26, has also bounced around several practice squads since going undrafted out of Washington in 2018, including a brief stint with the Cowboys in 2020. He made one appearance for the 49ers in 2020 and six appearances for the Chargers last season. He then kicked in one game for the Cardinals and two games for the Patriots this season.
Over his 10 NFL appearances, Vizcaino has made 11 of 12 field goals (91.7 percent) and 15 of 20 PATs (75 percent.)
Maher’s only successful PAT on Monday came in the fourth quarter to put the Cowboys up 31-6.
Quarterback Dak Prescott was spotted on the sideline after one of Maher’s misses saying to “go for f—ing two.”