Ralph Vacchiano

NFL reporter

For Brandon Aubrey, it looked like another kick. His routine didn’t change. His facial expression was also unrecognizable. His pulse wasn’t racing any more than usual. And it was pretty much in the middle, just like most of his kicks.

Not a big deal, really, except that it was a 65-yard field goal — 1 yard shy of the longest ever made in the NFL.

“He’s like the Steph Curry of kickers,” FOX analyst Tom Brady said after watching the late first-half kick during the broadcast of the Cowboys’ 28-25 loss to the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday. “There is no reach too far.”

Tom Brady: Brandon Aubrey “likes the Steph Curry of kickers”

That was quite a compliment from one of the greatest football players of all time, comparing a kicker to one of the greatest basketball players of all time. And it didn’t take long for Dallas Cowboys second-year kicker Aubrey to see the viral video and hear Brady’s words.

In an exclusive interview with FOX Sports, Aubrey admitted it was a “pretty cool” comparison.

He also didn’t shy away from the larger point Brady wanted to make.

“It was a really great moment and a comparison I never would have thought of,” Aubrey said. “But I think it makes sense.”

That makes sense, Aubrey said, because that’s really the kind of confidence he has – that there aren’t many kicks that take too long for him to try, and he wants his coaches and teammates to believe that he can take his shot from anywhere. He has accomplished that so far in his short NFL career. Since the Cowboys signed him from what was then the USFL just 15 months ago, he has made 15 consecutive field goals of 50 yards or more, the most by any consecutive 50-yard player in NFL history could.

As Cowboys receiver KaVontae Turpin said after Sunday’s game, “You feel like they’re just second nature to him right now.” Aubrey and his coaches feel that too. Not only did they watch Aubrey make a 66-yard field goal in a preseason game in Las Vegas, they also saw him make another in Week 1 in Cleveland. But what would have been a record-breaking free kick was wiped out by a delay of game penalty.

After the ball traveled five yards, Cowboys special teams coach John Fassel admitted they “considered” sending Aubrey to try again – what would have been a record-setting 71-yarder just before halftime. Aubrey even warmed up as if he was going to do the kick – a kick he would have liked to try.

“Yes, the coach is sending me out. I have nothing to lose,” Aubrey said. “Just go out there and smash the ball, and if it doesn’t go in, no one expected it to go in.”

“Hey, just shoot it, I guess.”

Brandon Aubrey’s journey to success began with the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

That’s the Curry-like confidence Brady saw, although it’s still a bit surprising coming from a kicker like Aubrey who has only been kicking on the court for five years. He played soccer at Notre Dame, was drafted into the MLS and played two professional seasons in the United Soccer League. And after his football career ended in 2018, he started working as a software developer.

He is known to have tried placekicking as recently as 2019. At the time, he was watching an NFL game on television with his wife, Jenn, who turned to him after watching a kicker make a field goal and said, “You could do that.”

That was the turning point of what Aubrey calls his “crazy ride.” Three years later he got his chance with the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL and was an instant success. But even there, he didn’t show Curry-like length with his shots. In two seasons, he converted 86.5% of his field goals (32 of 37). But his longest kick was 49 yards. He missed both chances from 50 yards or more.

So even after signing with the Cowboys in the summer of 2023, he was an unlikely candidate to challenge Baltimore’s Justin Tucker as the NFL’s best kicker or to do what Brady says he’s now doing – pushing the boundaries of what the People do I think it’s possible for kickers to do this.

“It’s interesting when you see all these long field goals being made in the NFL now,” Brady said. “I played for a long time… The thought of a 52-yard field goal was always the demarcation line, so to speak. That mental block brain barrier was kind of broken by NFL kickers at that point.”

Aubrey added: “(Long kicks) can hopefully push back the range that coaches like to call field goals — not just for me, but for other kickers as well. I think even if you go out and miss, the other team gets the ball in the half court, which could make the games more exciting.

Brandon Aubrey scores a field goal during a 2023 playoff game against the Packers. (Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images)

Aubrey has been doing this since he started in the NFL. He broke the league record by making 35 consecutive field goals early in his career and did not miss until a 32-yard attempt was blocked in the final game of the 2023 regular season at Washington. He also hit the post on a 36-yarder later in that game, but finished his rookie year 36 of 38, including 10 for 10 from 50 or more.

He is also 10-for-10 overall this season and 5-for-5 from 50 or more. He has made an astonishing 95.8% of his field goals (46 of 48) in 20 NFL games, including 100% (15 of 15). ) in over 50 games. He also made his only kick (a 34-yarder) in the Cowboys’ playoff loss last season.

However, it’s the long kicks that get him the most attention. He told FOX Sports that while it partly depends on the conditions, he generally feels comfortable and confident out to about 68 yards, which would be two yards longer than the record of 66 yards set by Tucker in 2021 . Aubrey said, “70 (yards) is.” where I get pretty uncomfortable changing some things and bringing more to the table than I’m comfortable with.

“It’s definitely possible, but the probability starts to decline after 68, 69.”

The key to those long kicks, Aubrey said, is maintaining the same process. He doesn’t change the length of his approach or his technique. The only concession he is allowed to make is to hit the ball a little higher, losing some of his height in exchange for more distance.

And yes, Aubrey said, with those long kicks, “you get to the ball with a little more adrenaline,” even though it may seem like it. This is also part of his mental battle.

“It’s certainly a calm look, but the heart is racing,” he said. “It’s kind of a struggle to keep as much control over your emotions as possible. I have practiced 10,000 times at this point. I have prepared myself. I came up with my process – my mental process. It’s just something I have.” I’ve done it a million times and going out there won’t be any different. The consequences may be different, but there is no room to think about the situation or the outcome.

That’s no different than the way Curry – arguably the best and definitely most productive 3-point shooter in NBA history – also seems to approach his long-distance shots. And that was the basis for Brady’s comparison. Aubrey appears almost matter-of-fact as he fires one long-range shot after another in the NFL. He seems unfazed when he pushes the limits.

And he looks like a kicker who feels like no shot is too far, no kick is too far, for him to at least try.

“Knowing that my range is further than they would ever ask me to go out and shoot the ball gives me the confidence to go out and hit those long balls,” Aubrey said. “It’s something I struggled with in the USFL, so it may just be a mental thing.”

“But once you understand, ‘OK, yeah, this is in my wheelhouse, I can do this’… Every kicker has to find that confidence.”

Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. He spent the last six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that he spent 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.

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