Making 27 field goals out of 32 attempts is a pretty good stat to have for a season, but to do it with herniated disc? That’s a different story. According to NBC DFW sportswriter Pat Doney, Dallas Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey played through the back injury for all of the 2016 season.
Doney reports Bailey has been dealing with back issues since 2014, but the pain increased around the time the team played San Francisco. The week after the 49ers game the team was bringing in kickers for tryouts just in case Bailey couldn’t kick by the next game.
When this was going on, it was being reported that Bailey just slept wrong in the team hotel and that it wasn’t a major issue.
Like other times in the past, the team kept the significance of the injury under wraps for the rest of the season.
The amazing part of this is how well Bailey performed throughout the rest of the season, including kicking two 50+ yard field goals in the divisional round playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Dan Bailey tied a career high in misses this year with five, and I’d bet he wouldn’t use his back injuries as an excuse, but you know it played a huge part in missing that many field goals. The guy got the nickname Dan “Money” Bailey for a reason, and it wasn’t because he carried around a pocket full of change.
I can tell you from personal experience, this is a very painful back injury.
There are days where it’s tough just moving around (getting out of bed, making cereal, sitting down to relax, etc.), and to know this man can go out and do what he does is nothing short of phenomenal.
Dan Bailey will meet with the team doctors in the coming days to figure out the best course for treatment in the offseason.
