Dan Bailey – The OT Clincher

December 20, 2012 By

Playing currently for the Dallas Cowboys, Chris Sailer trained kicker Dan Bailey is making people raise their eyebrows with his performance on the field. Signed up as a free agent last year, Bailey originally made his name playing college ball at Oklahoma State. Prior to that, local folks watched Bailey play in high school at Mustang High School in the same state. In those early years Bailey was awarded an all-state and conference ranking for his position as kicker, and he was also awarded all-city ranking as well. Bailey still holds his high school record of 50 yards for the longest scoring field goal.

Fast forward to current times, and Dallas has little complaint about their kicker pick with Bailey. He seems to have a knack for pulling teams through to a win when games go into overtime, which is the highest pressure situation for any kicker. San Francisco felt this impact when Bailey placed a 48 yard field goal against them in OT in 2011. This year, Bailey has pulled the same rabbit out of his hat three times against the Cleveland Browns, the Bengals, and the latest victim, the Pittsburg Steelers on December 16, 2012. All the effort has kept Dallas alive for the 2012 NFL Post Season play rather than an early Christmas dismissal.

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Dan Bailey Hits Game Winning Field Goal to Beat Bengals!

December 10, 2012 By

In an emotional filled game, due to the tragic loss of teammate Jerry Brown the day before, Chris Sailer Kicking Alum Dan Bailey hit a game winning 40 yd. field goal as time ran out to seal the victory for the Cowboys over the Bengals Sunday

Dan Bailey is a 2006 alum of Chris Sailer Kicking. He was a member of the Top 12 and assumed the starting place kicker role for Oklahoma State University in 2007 upon his graduation from kicking camp. After graduating from OSU, Bailey was signed as an undrafted free agent to the Dallas Cowboys in July 2011. Bailey’s first season with the Cowboys was stated to be one of the most successful kicking seasons by a rookie in both the Dallas Cowboys franchise history and NFL league history.

For the 2012 NFL season, Bailey is still at his best. His field goal stats are 100% for field goals attempted between 20 and 49 yards. While he’s only at 50% for field goals of more than 50 yards, his overall field goal average is 92%. While his first year was amazing and left little room for improvement in this area, he’s actually managed to improve by about 4%.

Bailey is an excellent player and an asset for the Cowboys and we will definitely see more good things from him in the future.

 

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Consistency in Coaching: Nick Folk & Kai Forbath

December 5, 2012 By

Consistency is the application of something necessary, for the sake of accuracy or achievement, at a level of performance that does not vary greatly in quality. Ask any athlete about one of the most influential aspects of their career and chances are the answer will be directly related to consistency in coaching. This is a point I and other topanking coaches feel strongly about. As an alumnus, and the kicking and punting coach at Notre Dame High school for the past 10 years, it has been my consistency in coaching that has attributed to the success of my current and former players.

Two of my former players, who I had the privilege of coaching during high school, exemplify how natural ability and the importance of the consistency model led to them playing in the NFL.
Nick Folk and Kai Forbath. Both started with me as freshman at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, CA. I was able to help Nick Folk receive a scholarship to Arizona, where he went on to play in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys and currently is a kicker for the New York Jets. Kai Forbath, accepted a scholarship to UCLA and now has a career with the Washington Redskins. Today, both of my former players give back by working on the Chris Sailer Kicking Staff.
Folk and Forbath exemplify two great success stories and model the importance of consistency in coaching. Remember “consistency breads excellence”.

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