We have now successfully boxed some of the best long-distance athletes in the sport on behalf of the American teams for two Saturdays in a row.
On August 10, it was Steph Curry who made a splash for the USA, securing gold at the Olympic Games. A week later, it was Brandon Aubrey who scored a 56-meter field goal for the Dallas Cowboys. Apparently these are equally great achievements!
You may have missed the field goal when it happened. Let us set the stage for you.
The Cowboys took over at their own 10-yard line after scoring their first touchdown of the preseason on the earlier possession. With less than a minute to play, the chances of a score were slim and most people were debating whether they had seen enough to go to bed.
But kudos to Trey Lance for orchestrating the necessary drive, capped by a 20-yard run where he wisely went down in time for the team to call a timeout. It felt kind of silly to send Brandon Aubrey out there, but the Cowboys had him try from 65 yards out last week, so the pattern was set. They took their time, he was ready, and Aubrey unofficially made the longest field goal in NFL history.
There are some incredible field goals where you have no idea how they happened and others where you know the entire path. This was the latter.
From the moment we got a proper look at it, it was clear that the money was in the bank. As with many field goals, we all thought it would have been even better from even further away. It had the distance it needed.
Shoutout to Nick Harris from the mothership who informed us that it would actually have been good if seen from the run down part of downtown. Apparently it would have been good from 72 too!
Aubrey was a perfect 10/10 from 50+ yards in his stellar rookie season, so it’s not exactly surprising that he’s been successful from long range. But this isn’t normal long range.
That Aubrey is a reliable weapon in this way is an underrated element of the entire Dallas Cowboys operation. It would be foolish to assume that he can pull off 66-yard attempts with this ease on a regular basis (but would he really?!), but remember that the line of scrimmage here was the Raiders’ 48-yard line. You really shouldn’t be able to basically midfield!
Touchdowns are always preferable to field goals, so there’s not always a case for Steph Curry’s three-pointer here. But if the Cowboys only have to get to the halfway line (relatively speaking) to have a real chance to score, then that’s serious business for them.
