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Cowboys firman al pateador Lirim Hajrullaju

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Greg Zuerlein

The Dallas Cowboys have publicly endorsed kicker Greg Zuerlein after missing two key field goals in the team’s two-point loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, his latest hire has put pressure on Zuerlein to improve his performance as the team plans to add kicker Lirim Hajrullaju to the practice team, according to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network.

“The Cowboys are expected to rehire kicker Lirim Hajrullahu to their practice team, a source said,” Pelissero said in a series of tweets. “It’s a contingency plan after Greg Zuerlein’s struggles on debut. Zuerlein had back surgery during the offseason and was out for much of practice. This warrants monitoring after unexpected failures against the Bucs.

The Cowboys already know Hajrullahu since they hired him last August, although they later fired him a few days later. Hajrullahu went through various teams during the offseason and is still looking for a fixed spot.

The Cowboys’ new kicker was very successful in the Canadian league and had many accomplishments, including being a two-time All-Star and a Gray Cup champion. Hajrullahu also spent brief spells with the Rams and Panthers.

David Helman, from DallasCowboys.com, referred to the roster change as a way for the team to be “proactive” in case Zuerlein can’t improve.

“This is progress,” Helman tweeted. “You don’t have to kick Greg Zuerlein just for a bad game, but for years we’ve seen the Cowboys do nothing about potential problems. It’s good to see that they will do something proactive. “

Jones on Zuerlein’s performance in week one: “We paid pay not to have our kicker in practice.”

Zuerlein missed the entire preseason recovering from back surgery. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was unenthusiastic about Zuerlein’s long-term future and acknowledged that the team “paid dearly” for not having the kicker in practice.

“I think we paid dearly for not having our kicker during practice,” Jones told 105.3 The Fan, according to USA Today. “When I think about it, when your kicker isn’t training during practice, then you can’t expect him to be at his best during the first few games of the season. You can’t beat him for defeat. But if we had practiced a little more field goals, the story could have been very different in the game.

Zuerlein: “If I did my job, we would have won”

Jones wasn’t the only one frustrated by the kicker’s failure during the Cowboys’ loss to the Bucs. Zuerlein took responsibility for the defeat shortly after the match ended. The kicker noted: “If I had done my job, we would have won.”

“Like you said, there are no excuses”, Zuerlein said after being asked if his health had to do with his problems. If I can play then they should land those kicks, so there are no excuses… I think I can learn a lot from what happened. I know we played well enough to win. If I had done my job, we would have won. I feel bad for my teammates who played so well, while I couldn’t do my job. In front of such a good team, with all the Super Bowl players back on the team, we were close to winning. About to win, if only I had done my job.

While it’s commendable that Zuerlein takes the blame, the Cowboys had a number of problems that contributed to the loss, including misses in the secondary. For now, Zuerlein is still the Cowboys kicker, but the recent hiring adds more pressure leading up to Week 2. Zuerlein still has two of his three years on his $ 7.5 million contract left, according to Spotrac.

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This is the original version of Heavy.com by Austin Boyd

READ MORE:REPORT: Cowboys add catcher after disqualifying injured starter: What happened?


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