Dallas Cowboys v Cleveland Browns
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FRISCO, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy believes in 2023 First Team All-Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey more than most people believe in anything and anyone. 

Aubrey made an NFL-record 35 field goals in a row to start his NFL career, and with a league-high 36 made field goals on his 38 attempts in 2023. With just seconds remaining in the first half of the Cowboys' 33-17 Week 1 win at the Cleveland Browns, McCarthy sent Aubrey out to kick a 66-yard field goal, which if made, would tie Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker's record. Aubrey actually did drain the kick, but a delay of game caused the record-tying make to be erased. McCarthy looked frustrated on the sideline and slightly confused with the referee. Perhaps he thought the official would be adding more time to the play clock. 

Let McCarthy and special teams coordinator John "Bones" Fassel explain what happened. 

"You have Bones today he really wants to go through that today," McCarthy said chuckling on Monday. "I don't want to lose his thunder. He's still upset about it."

Fassel blamed the referees on multiple counts. He said they were tardy in swapping the quarterback ball off of the field and replacing it with the K-Ball, the one kickers and punters use when special teams is on the field. Long snapper Trent Sieg was also delayed in snapping the ball became Cleveland made a late defensive substitution. 

"So by the time we got over the ball and snapped it, we were one second late," Fassel said. "So that was my observation of it. Had a conversation with the official before halftime and after halftime, especially once I talked to Trent that he was told to hold because of a defensive substitution, supposedly happened, and that's what cost us that second. So it's too bad."  

McCarthy briefly sent Aubrey back out to attempt the 71-yarder after the penalty, but he thought better of it after the Browns called a timeout to make him think about. It wasn't because he didn't believe in Aubrey, who drilled a 66-yard field goal in Week 2 of the preseason indoors at the Las Vegas Raiders. The Cleveland wind plus the presence of a Browns return man made McCarthy think back to his time as the San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator in 2005 when he faced the Bears in Chicago of Week 10 that season. A missed 52-yard field goal by then-kicker Joe Nedney led to a 108-yard return touchdown for Bears in a 17-9 win over McCarthy's 49ers. 

"I think he's shown he can go from 70," McCarthy said of Aubrey. "The only concern there, if you look at it, we backed right up and was going to go for it, but then there was conversation on the sideline there and John was really concerned about the return of it. Once he [Fassel] responded that way, frankly, I already took my headset off, so I was going for the 71-yarder. But [I] had a flashback to Nathan Vasher from 2005. I was on the other side of a 108-yard return right before the half."

The Dallas head coach felt the weather conditions Sunday in Cleveland were similar to those in Chicago 16 years ago, which is why he stood by the call not to attempt the 71-yarder. 

"There was a wind there," McCarthy said. "We measured it before the game. I think it held up pretty much the same. It was about 15 miles per hour, had some gusts. That's why we pulled it off and went with the rebound pass there instead. I love giving our guys those type of opportunities, and Brandon didn't blink. He just lined up and was ready to go. ... I think Brandon thought he was being freezed [by the Browns calling a late timeout]. He didn't even realize they moved it back 5 yards. He was so focused on the kick. It would have been exciting, but I think strategically, with the momentum, the score, everything going into the half, it's still the right decision."

"We'll never know," Aubrey said postgame on Sunday when asked if he could have made the 71-yard kick. "In the moment, I didn't know. I thought it was still 66. I thought they had called timeout. It's hard to say how I would have reacted out there, but probably the right call on the day and the conditions."

"Absolutely," Aubrey said when asked if he wanted to attempt a kick from 70. 

As the then-special teams coordinator of the Raiders under then-head coach Lane Kiffin, Fassel's unit was on the field for Pro Bowl kicker Sebastian Janikowski to attempt a 76-yard field with one second left in the first half of a Week 4 home game against the Chargers. The kick was missed, and Kiffin was fired after that game. However, Fassel conceded he would alright with Aubrey attempting kicks distances he isn't accustomed to. 

"I don't know if I want to give you the number so other teams don't use it against us, but it would be significant distance that I'm not used to. Of course, I don't know what the ultimate range is [for Aubrey]," Fassel said. "End of the half, end of the game, you could go ahead and hit bombs as long as they don't have a returner back there, which they did. They didn't in the Vegas preseason game, and we made it."

Aubrey did drill field goals of 57 and 40 in the first half, and the 57-yarder was the longest made field goal in a Cowboys season opener ever. He tacked on two more in the second half from 50 and 46 yards out. Aubrey is now 12 for 12 from 50 yards or deeper in his career, thus leaving the door open for more opportunities to kick from 66 yards or longer, provided the conditions are right.