October 21, 2024 • 57 mins
Join Brad Sham and Nicole Hutchison on the Miller Lite Cowboys Hour presented by Albertsons and Tom Thumb with special guest Brandon Aubrey on 105.3 The FAN.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
This is This.
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Is the Miller Lite Cowboys Out, supported by Albertsons and
broadcasting live from Sidecars Socials at the Star in Frisco.
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Now your hosts, Nicole Well Hutchison and Bradshae.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Welcome everybody to the Cowboys Hour. Welcome to Victory Monday
because it was a great weekend and the Victory Monday
Club is here, happy to have you with us to
the Cowboys. Come out of there bye, and we are
here at Sidecar Social at the Star District in Frisco.
There are two NFL games on television and one of
(01:26):
them is streaming, but it'll stream on one of these
ninety four televisions that are here at Sidecar Social. I
promise great place to come and have great food and
drinks and watch the games. And then if you get
here at six o'clock, then you get to come see
the best kicker in football, Brandon Aubrey sitting right over here.
Thank you, thank you, no, thank you, thanks for coming out.
(01:48):
We want to as always welcome all of you who
are here. We always appreciate you folks coming to be
a part of the program. Here to all of you
listening wherever that might be on the doll Us Cowboys
Radio Network and watching whenever and wherever on streaming on
Dallascowboys dot com. So we'll wave to you. Nice to
(02:11):
have you folks with us. So I was when I
knew you were going to be coming, Brandon Aubrey. I
was thinking about what a great time we had with
you last season when you were here, and then I
got to thinking about how much your life has changed. Oh,
in that period of time, you are a Pro Bowl,
(02:33):
All Pro kicker, and now you are the father of
a visit today, ten weeks today, ten weeks today, Colton Aubrey,
which is why Brandon's lovely wife, Jen, who was here
last year when he came and shared the hour with us,
is at home. She's otherwise occupied. So let's start with that.
(02:59):
How in ten weeks, I mean, those of us who
have been parents for a while can tell you you, oh,
you don't even know what's coming, but it but but
every day's glorious, right, So, how is your life changed
in ten weeks?
Speaker 4 (03:13):
Yeah, a lot less sleep, I'd say, not a lot
less sleep, but jin for Gen in particular, a lot
less sleep. She's pulling the night shift, which is awesome
for me, making sure my body's in top shape. But
you know, just this week was awesome, the bye week,
being able to stay home and just spend some quality
of time, going out to the pumpkin patch, you know,
just doing those normal activities and make you feel kind
(03:36):
of like a normal person. Get to sit down and
watch football all day Sunday, got the Thursday night game
and all that. So it was it was nice to
just be a normal person. And as far as the
way life has changed, you know, hasn't changed much with
football season going on, it's still kind of the same
grind as last year, but I'm excited for the off
(03:56):
season ago and just kind of explore and kind of
watching and grow.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
Just sit there for hours, just staring at him.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
He's finally smiling, so he's just sitting there looking at
us and occasionally cooing and smiling, which is the best
thing in the world.
Speaker 6 (04:09):
What's the day to day like dad like like life?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Like?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Yeah, rush home, get theirs as fast as possible from football,
and just kind of change a diaper, do everything I
can around around the house, easing the load for gin there.
But there's not much I can do because you know,
I can't feed him, so I try my best, but
you know, just just be present and enjoy the moments
(04:32):
to watch him grow. He's not doing a whole lot,
he's not mobile yet, just smiling and cooing.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Did you do you find yourself coming home and walking
in and saying to her, oh, honey, it's great to
see what did I miss today?
Speaker 5 (04:44):
Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Yeah, it's kind of changed the dynamic between the two
of us. It's kind of just all about him now,
which is a good thing, I think. But I've got
to find the time to, you know, sit there and
enjoy moments together as well.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
So you touched on it, But this is I'm a
dad too, in case anybody didn't know, but I've been
one for quite a while. But I remember that we
were just talking about the all the great discoveries that
you and your wife have coming because of the discoveries
that he has coming. Are there one or two little
(05:19):
things that just in ten weeks that you mentioned smiling
and cooing, Any little things that made you go, oh wow,
I never knew that was such a cool thing.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Yeah, just control of your arms and legs. He has
zero control of his arms and legs. Kind of scares
himself awake sometimes and just take that for granted, I guess.
But I'm excited for him to kind of figure out
how to control his body and start crawling around and
just be able to play with him a little bit more,
because right now it's just making faces out him and
(05:50):
seeing if he reacts. Doesn't really track the fingers. He's
just just starting to track with his eyes. But not
a lot you can do other than just sit there
and stare at him.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
So when you were here last year, we talked about
and we'll touch on it some of it again tonight.
Everybody didn't get to hear it about your journey, how
you got here and how you got to the NFL.
But really the thrust of the conversation had to be
what an unusual thing it was the way you got
to the NFL and you started right white hot, right
(06:22):
out of the chuot, And how are you enjoying it?
And so now you have kept it going for almost
another half season, some big awards in football, but now
you have something else, another reason to go to work
(06:45):
and succeed and do all that. Has it made you
feel any different about football?
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Absolutely gives me a chance to go home and just
not focus on performance and go home and just kind
of escape a lot easier than I used to. It
used to be hard to get home and think about
anything other than how I kicked today.
Speaker 5 (07:02):
Or what I got to do tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Now it kind of time flies by sitting there taking
care of his needs, and you know, just oh, it's
time for bed. All of a sudden, you kind of
don't want to go to bed, but I got to
just to get the energy back for tomorrow.
Speaker 7 (07:15):
Kind of piggybacking off of that, Dak has always talked
about his dad's strength when he had his baby girl,
and a lot of the players do when they have kids.
Speaker 6 (07:23):
But for you, what has that dad's strength been, Like.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
It's been awesome, you know, kind of The next game,
like four days later was the Raiders game, which I
got the hit sixty six yard veil, which is crazy,
and then kind of took that into the season with
Cleveland getting another shot at it, whichh that one would
have counted, and then the Ravens game the sixty five
so got a lot of long field goal attempts. I'm
(07:48):
not sure if the dad's strength is a real thing,
but if it is, I'm definitely benefiting from it.
Speaker 7 (07:53):
Now, this was this you and the missus long term
plan as far as like having a kid right now
or was it just kind of like a you know,
that's a personal question.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
No, that's a personal question. My goodness.
Speaker 5 (08:05):
We always wanted kids.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
But you know, I give Jen a hard time because
she wanted to be like financially stable and you know, well,
excuse me, but you now are exactly Yeah, I working
as a software engineer and she was a flight instructors, Like,
I'm pretty sure we're financially set now where we're good
to go. So I give her hard time. It took
me making an NFL roster for her to let me
start a family with herself.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah. I don't even want to go down that road,
but but I do. Just one or two other baby
related things that I just kind of cause only been
ten weeks, but I didn't realize until today that Colton
was born like hours after the preseason game in Las Vegas?
Is that right? And it was the Raider the Rams game,
(08:50):
the Rams game, the first one, Yeah, the first one.
So tell the people the story about how you because
I just think this is greatness. How how you knew
it was impending? Yes, let's try to think about work.
I can't be in two places at once, but I
really want to get to the second place as fast
as I can. How did you? How did you navigate
getting from LA back here?
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Yeah? There was a lot of planning in preparation, which
I don't usually do a good job of. So I'm
proud of myself for that one. But we booked a
flight through American airlines like months in advance because it
was a planned c section for the Monday morning after
the game. So our game ended in LA at like
five o'clock or something like that, or four point thirty
and had a flight out of Lax at seven and
(09:36):
had the Cowboys set up some transportation, which the car
was in the tunnel waiting for me.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
They're they're good at it.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
So I ran off the field kind of as I
realized the game was over, probably ten seconds left on
the clock. Sprinted in took all my gear off and.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
I was actually, did you change out of your uniform?
Speaker 5 (09:54):
Changed out of it?
Speaker 4 (09:55):
But I did not shower, which is kind of gross.
Which I got on in that car and I was
in the TERM. I had gotten pre check. I went
and got TSA pre check in Auxnard, just so I
get home a little bit faster. And that's an awesome process.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
You didn't have it before, No, that is life changing.
Oh yeah, oh oh you have no idea. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
It took me like ten seconds to get through the
term security, which is awesome. So I was at the
gate within like ten minutes of the game ending. Yeah,
with that car the police escort TSA pre check. I
actually had time to sit down at the California Peacha Kitchen,
have a little celebratory beer for with my set boy,
and hop on the flight, which actually my father in
law's father in law had booked the flight as well
(10:36):
as the captain. So he flies for American Airlines and
he made sure that he got that flight, so if
I was running a little bit behind, he'd kind of
delay it for us.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
So there's a great picture on your I think it's
your Instagram of you sitting in the cockpit with your
father in law. Yes, And did you stay up there?
And he then he literally flew you back. Was it
a deadhead or was it a flight full of.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Pe and always full of people? It was a normal,
normally scheduled American.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Airlines And did you get Did you sit in the
cockpit with him?
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (11:06):
No, that would be very illegal.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
I sat in the in the back, so I just
came up there for the picture and beforehand, and then
went back to my seat.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
That's such a flex my father in law. That's that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah, absolutely all right, So much to talk about with
the Cowboys, all pro kicker Brandon Aubrey, who is now
financially stable and therefore can be the father of ten
week old Colton. We're at Sidecars social at the Star
District in Frisco with Brandon and we'll be right back.
Speaker 8 (11:45):
Cowboys balls don't come wars to the.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Miller Lite Cowboys Hour, supported by Albertson and broadcasting live
from Sidecars Social at the Star Infrasco.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Welcome back everybody to the Cowboys Hour, Coming out of
the Cowboys by thanks for being with us. Special guest
Cowboys All Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey. We are here at
Sidecar Social. There you go, There you go, bad, you
woke up out of your beers just long enough. Take
the queue. And Nicole, who who brings us this opportunity
(15:11):
to visit with the great Brandon?
Speaker 6 (15:13):
I've got you covered, Alberson. When it comes time to shop.
Speaker 7 (15:16):
For tailgate favorites, Oh, Albertson's and Tom Thumb get ten
percent off your groceries every Dallas Cowboys game day when
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official supermarket in pharmacy of the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
When we sat down up here, Nicole and I both realized,
independently of each other that we uh missed a great
opportunity because you've got your shirt? You own one? Oh
you don't, well, I missed it.
Speaker 6 (15:43):
Wait some of the butter well sorry, slow moment there,
My bad.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
I did to pick it up where by getting by
getting to this stage in life, I have learned to
take nothing for granted. So uh, Cowboys, Mr Right, Brandon, Yeah,
they came up with this shirt based off the nickname
that Dak Prescott gave Brandon last year. Butter, And they've
(16:11):
got this phenomenal T shirt with your pictures on it, right,
absolute says Butter, and we each have one. Neither of
us wore tonight. We were not We were not thinking.
So another time, so, uh, how did you find out
that they were doing that?
Speaker 4 (16:28):
I'm just walking off the field after practice one day.
The social media team was there with it and kind
of asked.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Me they already had done it. They locked it up
and printed it out. Yep.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
And they asked me to give the shirt a rating.
And I looked over and that's really cool. Who did that?
Speaker 5 (16:43):
But it's awesome.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
I love that. It's a really really cool shirt and.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Glad they printed it for me.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
How many they give you?
Speaker 4 (16:52):
I'm working on it. I tried to put in a
big order here of like seventy or so. I'm gonna
give one to each guy on the team and then
one to my family members.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
Do you have your friends from back home? Do they
rock the shirt at all?
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Well, this is beg home.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
Yeah, you know what I mean, like high school friends,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Absolutely not a lot of time to see friends right now,
so I'm not sure. I'm sure a lot of them
have it.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
If not Dallas Cowboys pro shop dot com. That's how
I got mine. Just went online and said I must
have my butter shirt.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
Appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yeah, oh yeah, it's phenomenal. And and you do get
a cut, right, yes, I do?
Speaker 5 (17:26):
Okay, yea through the PA.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
There's a small percentage goes to the players, which is
awesome because I didn't really have to do any work
for it.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
So well, that's the best kind of money. Yes, there's
the best kind of money. So the the butter. By
the way, there's a great It's one of my favorite
pictures I've seen all calendar year. On Brandon's it's on
your wife's Instagram.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
She actually added me as a collaborator, so it's on both.
That's where the confusion came from.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, and it is young Colton. How old was he that?
Speaker 4 (18:00):
He was probably like five hours old? Five hours in
that picture, yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
And he's wearing a onesie that says baby, Butter. Now,
if that's not the greatest thing you've ever seen, so
let's revisit that. I know we touched on it last year,
but you've had some time for it to grow on you.
That's a name Dak gave you. Yeah, because you're smooth
as butter? Right?
Speaker 5 (18:20):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (18:21):
And what did you think when you heard that?
Speaker 4 (18:24):
You know, I was just happy that the team was
talking about me in a positive light, so, you know,
I didn't have much time to think about it, but
I love it. It's it's a great name. It's a
complimentary of the style of kicking I have, which you know,
at anytime someone's calling you smooth as a kicker, that's
a good thing.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
So I'm happy. Let's stick with it now.
Speaker 6 (18:43):
Butter is a nickname they gave you. But is it?
Was there a nickname that you, I don't know, maybe
have thought of before that?
Speaker 4 (18:49):
No? No, no, I don't just think about kicking kicking
the ball, seatball, kickball.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Do many guys call you butter?
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Yeah, a lot of guys around the team.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
How long did it take you to start answering to it?
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Quite a while, you know, Dak, you know, would be
yelling Butter across the room and I'd just be staring
at the wall and Brian or Jen would hit me
and be like, pay attention, that's you.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
That's you. So the success that you had last year.
Last year was remarkable, but not a surprise to you.
Is that a fair statement?
Speaker 4 (19:29):
You know, if you would have told me that's the
way the season would have gone at the beginning of
the season, yeah, I would have been surprising, just kind
of when you get the job, you kind of want
to just go out there and make your kicks and
be there the next week. But reflecting on the way
I got there, I don't think so, just because you.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
Know, you're going out there and you're you're.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Making one kick at a time, and then all of
a sudden you do that over and over and over again.
You get to the end of the year, and it's
it's not easy to make one kick, but it's something
that you can process that you can do. So who
go out there and do it once, then you go
out there and do it again, just one time, one
at a time. Then all of a sudden, at the
end of year, you're sitting at well, I think it
was thirty five for thirty seven, So.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Yeah, you're in a year and alf you're at ninety
three percent or something like that.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
I keep that going.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Yeah. Yeah. Was there a point at all, either last
year or as the success continued into this year that
you said, I'm good at this. I'm surprised, but I
can I'm really good.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
I try not to think like that.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Just try and think go out there and again and
make the kicks, because at any given time, you know,
you missed two kicks in one game, people are gonna
be calling for your head, and your your percentage goes
from ninety three to ninety and then you have no
will room with you with your your stats there. So
as soon as you think you haven't made and you
stop focusing on the process or what you've been doing
to get there, it can go away pretty quick.
Speaker 7 (20:54):
Is there any pressure to have to repeat that type
of success this year for you?
Speaker 6 (20:59):
Do you feel it at all?
Speaker 4 (21:00):
No?
Speaker 5 (21:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
I try not to let myself feel the pressure. And
you know there's enough pressure on each individual kick as
you go out there internally, because you know anytime you
go out there you have points to score, and if
you don't do your job, it's really obvious and hurts
the team pretty significantly. So each kick is pressure field
enough that there's no pressure from past game, last week,
(21:25):
or even the previous kick.
Speaker 5 (21:27):
It's just go out there and do the task at hand.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
What helps you not feel that pressure?
Speaker 5 (21:34):
I'm not entirely sure.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
You know. I lock into my task at such a
small incremental level that there's not really a whole lot
of room to think about anything other than taking the
next step going onto the field.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
Literally just watching the field goals shrink.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
Or try grow as I walk out there, and then
going through my process in my head each and every
kick is I'm literally talking to myself through each step
and what I'm doing with my hips, what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
With my consciously. You talk to yourself about each step consciously.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Yeah, it's just so there's no room to think about
the pressure, think about the outcome or where we were
at in the game. It's just exactly what I have
to do, and that kind of clears the mind.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
Have you always been like that, eve like soccer?
Speaker 4 (22:23):
No, that's something that's very much my process with just football,
and my first year in the USFL, I didn't have that.
I just went out and kind of just win wong
it or winged it. Winked or wong.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
It could be wong. For the rest of us, it
would be winged, gotcha.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
So I went out there and winged it, and you know,
I didn't have quite the success I wanted. It was
probably like eighty three, eighty four percent, eighty five, some
somewhere in that range. And wasn't quite happy with it.
And so I spent some time with a bunch of coaches,
a mental strength coach, and just mental performance was the
next step, because I felt like, you know, my kicking
is good, but sometimes I go out there and it's
(23:05):
just not where it needs to be. So I spent
a lot of time focusing on the mental aspect of
the game, which more often than not, that's what holds
kickers back and really all all position players in football.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
I'm sure, go ahead ahead.
Speaker 6 (23:19):
How often do you kind of meet with the mental
coaches and things like that?
Speaker 4 (23:23):
So I don't do it much anymore, but when I'll
get my process defined and refining it quite frequently.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
That first year in the USFL, Was that the last
time you missed two kicks in the game or did
you even that year?
Speaker 8 (23:40):
No?
Speaker 5 (23:41):
I probably did.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
I think week nine of my first season against the breakers,
I missed two in that game, an extra point in
the field goal, and then we actually got like a
thirty yard game winning field goal or like thirty three
yard game winning field goal opportunity, and I made it, so,
you know, short memory for the team. All right, I'm
the hero now, even though I cost us some points
(24:04):
out there. But you go out there and make the
last one, usually it's a good day.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
And how long did it take you to stop whipping
yourself over having missed four points worth of kicks?
Speaker 4 (24:19):
You know, I still you're still doing it a little bit, maybe,
but you know, we've we've come a long way from there.
And I think going through the process of coming up
with that mental process for myself was probably because of
that performance.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
You won two USFL championships. Yes, did you get rings? Yes?
Speaker 4 (24:39):
I do.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
I have them.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Do you ever you ever wear them?
Speaker 5 (24:42):
No?
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Maybe?
Speaker 4 (24:43):
I wore the first one to the second ones and
wore it to a USFL game, but not just around.
They're pretty large and obnoxious.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Oh well, if you ever win a Super Bowl? Here
what you think? You know? Large?
Speaker 5 (25:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Wait, do you see what that would look like? So
when you you hit the sixty six yarder in pre season,
which I think by now, it's just most of us
aren't surprised anymore, like we're stunned when you miss one.
But I honestly think I think I've said this on
(25:22):
the air. I'm not sure, but you're going for seventy
one sometime this year, the circumstance will present itself because
you've hit it. You've cleaned that much distance sometimes for
a kick that was less yarded, so you had that
sixty six yard and then the one that they wiped
off in Cleveland, and that's a that's a long way
(25:44):
from missing too. With Birmingham and like talking to yourself
about how did you how did you get from here
to there?
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Yeah, a lot of preparation and practice, kind of reflecting
on mistakes I've made, And I made a lot of
mistakes in training camp in preseason that first year where
we were lucky to have the.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Same city in Birmingham or Hell and here last year.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Yeah, yeah, a lot of chances to correct those mistakes.
And even Week one, missing that first extra point on
a sudden change, I was lucky to have another sudden
change that game. We actually had two more sudden changes.
It's just you know, reflecting on mistakes and coming up
with the plan to not make that mistake again has
(26:33):
been massive for me.
Speaker 7 (26:34):
Brian, you're kicking coaches here? Yes, shout out to Brian.
Can you wave his hand whereas he were sitting with Brian?
Speaker 6 (26:40):
Can you hear us?
Speaker 1 (26:41):
There we go? Nice work, by the way, Brian, Nice work.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
How valuable has you know been working with Brian for
since nineteen yeah, twenty nineteen?
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (26:51):
How much has that just been so valuable for your growth?
Speaker 5 (26:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (26:55):
He kind of showed me what the ropes looked like
for kickers, and what a workout would look like and
the proper form and guided me through finding my steps.
Each kicker kind of has their own steps and their
own process for kickoffs and field goal so he helped
me kind of map out what that looks like and
then helped me make sure. He gave me drills to
(27:19):
work on my own to kind of figure out how
to get to that same spot every time. It's just
repetitively taking those steps, and then it was a good
signing board for where I stood against other kickers. Kind
of just helped me build myself up and build my confidence.
And then when he had taught me everything he could
teach me. He pushed me out the door, which was
(27:40):
also helpful because you know, you can't just sit around
and kick on a high school field over and over
again and expect a job to come. So I had
to go out there and put myself out in the
environment when I was ready to make a good first impression,
which he helped me. You know, over the course of
two and a half years, developed myself to a point
where I could make a good first impression.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Right before we take our next break, Where do you
think you stand in the profession right now?
Speaker 5 (28:05):
Where do I stand?
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yeah? In your mind? Yeah, I mean we can look
at the numbers, but that's not that's just a that's
a piece something on a piece of paper.
Speaker 5 (28:13):
I prefer not to even think about it.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
That's just it's so irrelevant for kickers to compare each
other because we're we're never on the field at the
same time.
Speaker 5 (28:19):
So I'm just gonna go out there and kick the ball.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Yeah, we're gonna We're gonna try to probe the psyche.
Brandon Aubrey's our guest on the Cowboys Hour. We're a
sidecar social in Fresco in the Star District. We'll be
right back.
Speaker 8 (28:43):
Cowboys as Don't Cowards.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
To the Miller Lite Cowboys Hour, supported by Albertson and
broadcasting live from Sidecars Social at the Star in Frasco.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
And welcome back Brad Sham and Nicole Hutchinson and our
special guest, Brandon Aubrey, the best kicker in the NFL.
Brandon Aubrey. Here there we go back.
Speaker 6 (32:02):
Up the.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
So we were talking before we went on the air.
The Detroit Lyons kicker who they got their guy got hurt.
They signed it Jake Bates is his name? Is that
which I didn't realize until getting ready for the game
a couple of weeks ago, that he was also a
college soccer player, and much as you you thought you
(32:30):
were going to be a software engineer when you quit
playing soccer. And if you're if you're not the All
Pro kicker this year, it will be because his team
has a better year than your team, and he will
have had a good year, and that's what people tend
to look at. He's fun to watch. Uh did you
get to talk to him?
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Yeah? I got to talk to him after the game,
and yeah, he, like you said, he's a he's a
great story he was college soccer walk on and then
I think he walked on to Arkansas as well as
a kickoff specialist. He wanted to get opportunities to kick
field goals but never got it in college. Then went
on to I think he got a couple of looks
(33:11):
in training camp with like the Texans, but didn't get kept.
They have fair Baron as an excellent kicker as well,
so they weren't going to keep him as long as
fair Baron stayed healthy, and he did so. Then he
found a home in Michigan with the Michigan Panthers in
the UFL last season and did an incredible job. He
(33:32):
made three long kicks from sixty plus.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Did you play them last year?
Speaker 5 (33:37):
I didn't.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
He was this past year. He said they changed the UFL.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
That's yeah, never mind, So he was a year behind me.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
There draw the question you're on.
Speaker 5 (33:45):
But he he played really well earned an opportunity.
Speaker 4 (33:47):
And you know, the cool story about with him is
he got to stay in the same stadium because the
Panthers played in ford Field and now I'm still at
ford Field, which is really cool.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
And he said he was selling bricks.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Yeah, I didn't know that part of it. But yeah,
that's what he was saying.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Yeah, he said it at a press conference here, maybe
after the game yesterday, So he's they're having a moment
like Cowboy fans did with you last year, and continue
to the process that you described a little bit ago
about thinking through every step. Still, that surprised me a
(34:29):
little because we all want to think that by now.
You just wipe the slate clean and you go out
and there's the ball. It's always in the right place
thanks to your snapper and your holder, and you just
kick it. So now, well, here's what I'm imagining now,
that you go out there and you find a way
(34:49):
to block out all the noise and it becomes like
a cone of silence, and maybe there's some like chariots
of Fire music or something playing in the far a distance,
and that's all you're aware of, and here as you
go through the process and hit them. But how am
I completely wrong? No?
Speaker 5 (35:08):
Not not really.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
So that's the idea where I wish I could just
tune everything out and not have anything going through my brain,
But that's not realistic to achieve on every kick. So
I got to go out there and kind of crowd
out all the other noise with my own talking. So
that's what I'm doing. I don't necessarily need to hear
all of those things I'm saying to go out and
kick the ball, But I'd rather hear that than if
(35:31):
you don't make this kick, this happens, if that guy
doesn't expect that guy's going to do that, this guy's
gonna do that. So I don't want to be thinking
about the rush. I don't want to be thinking about
the snap or the hold. I just want to be
thinking about what I'm doing. So I'd rather hear myself
talking than you know, any of the fans or the
other team or whatever it could be that pops into
your head when you're, you know, going about your daily job.
Speaker 7 (35:51):
Kickers have become much more accurate, and so it's brought
upon like reports of the NFL possibly narrowing the uprights.
Speaker 6 (35:59):
What's your thought that.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
I think it's kind of silly. I mean, it doesn't
need to change. It would make, you know, our jobs
a lot more difficult if you narrow the uprights, and
guys are better at their job, but I mean, every
position is getting better at their job. You don't need
to change the game for that. And if you're frustrated
with kicking because it's too accurate that you're going to
(36:21):
be more frustrated with it when you can't rely on
kickers to make inside of forty because I mean, if
you narrow the uprights, it's going to be very, very
difficult to be consistent inside of even forty.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
In the practice field, is there not a goal post?
Would like the Arena League?
Speaker 5 (36:40):
Yeah, upright, we do have those.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
And when you kick at those, how do you do?
Speaker 4 (36:45):
I mean, do you keep track or No? That's just
a visual trick and playing on myself. So when I
go out to the bigger uprights, then you know you
can kind of oh wow, there's a lot of room
to play with there. So no, I when I'm kicking
on those, I'm just for feel. And then you know,
even when it goes wide right by like a foot,
You're like, a that's good. It's good on normal uprights.
(37:07):
So it's more of just a visual trick I'm playing
on myself. I couldn't tell you how many go in
and don't go in when I'm kicking on those. Probably
I'd say they're fifty percent smaller's fifty percent less rooms.
So probably somewhere around twenty five to fifty percent. Let's
go in if I had to guess.
Speaker 7 (37:23):
What's your regiment outside of the practypical practice you get
at the Star Because you know, you see, of course,
like dv's and wide receivers they go run or whatever,
do routes and things like that. But what's your type
of regiment off of the practice.
Speaker 6 (37:37):
Field at the Star.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
So with kicking, it's such a violent motion that you
can't really do it very frequently. So we're only kicking
twice a week in practice and the rest of it
is just recovery. We do our lifts and our runs.
There's not a whole lot of film to watch. We'll
watch each kick back, but in practice we only get
six live ops with the team, so we get six
(37:59):
six reps a week on film to go break down
what you're doing. Other than that, it's just a feel
feedback kind of go out there and I kicked the
ball and if it felt a little bit like this,
maybe Brian has eyes on it and he's like, oh,
that was this that you didn't do normally.
Speaker 5 (38:15):
So there's not a lot of kicking, and you know,
I like that.
Speaker 4 (38:19):
I like to be fresh on game days, and I
don't kick a lot in warm ups because at that point,
if you're struggling, I'd rather be fresh than try and
fix it on the field, because you're likely not gonna
fix it on the field. If you're you're just at
least fresh and struggling. It's better than being sore and
tired and struggling.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
So how has the new kickoff rule impacted your mental
process that you used to just you could line up
and if they, if bones said get rid of it,
just you could just boom it and it's a touch
pack yeah the league last year. Yeah, but now you're
kind of you're hitting a little chip shot here and
a wedge down there, and it's not as easy.
Speaker 4 (38:59):
Yeah, So that's where the soccer takes over. That's kind
of where the flow comes in. I'm not really thinking
about I don't have a strict regiment on that right now.
Speaker 5 (39:08):
It's just put the ball on the tee.
Speaker 4 (39:10):
And just kind of pick a spot and kind of
in my brain say, I want to hit a driven ball,
or I want to hit a little lofted ball or
whatever I want to hit, and I go out there
and hit the best of my ability. So that is
more of the soccer player where I'm not really thinking
about anything in particular, just put the ball in that
area and then that's that's it.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Do you practice that more?
Speaker 5 (39:30):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (39:31):
I practiced that quite a bit that Last year. I
hit no kickoffs in practice. This year I'm probably hitting
like twenty a week, just making sure I can find
my spot and hit it and make little tweaks here
and there if I'm not hitting the exact spot.
Speaker 7 (39:43):
I want what different parts of the foot do you
use for the different type of kicks.
Speaker 6 (39:47):
I'm interested to know that.
Speaker 4 (39:50):
I don't know.
Speaker 7 (39:50):
It's like for a wedge. Is there a different way
that you kick the ball or no?
Speaker 6 (39:54):
I don't know if I want to save it?
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Yeah, yeah, okay, so that gets me to on sidekicks.
Speaker 5 (40:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Did you see the game? Yes? I think it was
yesterday where the guys like Whift. Yeah, which game was that?
Speaker 4 (40:12):
That was the forty nine Ers Chiefs. That was the
It was a punter, it was wish. Now is he
going to have to do something that's probably not in
his job description? And you know, didn't have the best
the best showing, but I'm sure if he went out
and did it again, he'd do.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Better, all right, So you have the only successful on
sidekick in the league this year.
Speaker 4 (40:33):
Yeah, speaks more of the guys on the field with
me than me, because you know, my job is fairly
easy on that one with the way they asked me
to hit the ball there, So that's an easy, easy
job for me to do. Really hard to go recover that.
So the guy, the other ten guys on the field
did fantastic and you know, crazy stat that's actually CJ's
(40:55):
second fumble or not fumble on sticker recovery, which is
pretty crazy.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
In his career.
Speaker 5 (41:01):
You mean in his career.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Yeah, the other one, if I'm not mistaken, the other
one was against Atlanta. Yeah, yeah, in twenty twenty, same
kind of gig. Yeah, So what how many different kinds
of onside kicks do you practice?
Speaker 5 (41:17):
I don't practice on side kick.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
You don't know.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
It's such a rare thing to do, and that.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
You just put the ball down flat and say this, yeah,
hit it over there.
Speaker 4 (41:26):
Yeah for that one in particular, if bones asked me
to do something different, we'll go and do something different.
But it's so infrequent to hit an on side kick
that it's not something I really practice at least in season,
I'll go out and mess around with them, maybe once
a month where I just have an on tie kick
day and just go have some fun.
Speaker 5 (41:45):
See what I can come up with.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
Well, I hope I don't have the opportunity to talk
about it in a game because with the new rules,
you have to be behind in the fourth quarter to
onside kick, So hopefully that won't come up. But if
it ever does, Uh, I got a story for everybody. Nicole,
who is bringing us this lovely program.
Speaker 6 (42:04):
This evening, I've gotcha cover right, lu Casey stand tall
while you're tailgating or cheering in the stands with the
Dallas Cowboys Collection by Lucasey. Shop the collection today at
Lucasey's sixty FW Lucations and online at lucasey dot com.
Lucasey the official boot of the Dallas Cowboys. In Dallas
Cowboys Cheerleader, We'll.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
Be back with Brandon Aubrey on the Cowboys Hour and
your questions at Sidecar Social when the Cowboys Hour continues.
Speaker 8 (43:40):
No Cowboys don't Cowboys Us.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
To the Miller Lite Cowboys Hour, supported by Albertson and
broadcasting live from Sidecars Social at the star Infrasco.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
Welcome back to Brad Sham, Nicole Hutchinson, and the All
Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey from the Dallas Cowboys. I really
only just noticed you were wearing your Pro Bowl Games hoodie.
How big a bag full of swag did you bring
home from?
Speaker 5 (46:00):
So much stuff? It's uh.
Speaker 4 (46:02):
I almost couldn't make my flight with that bag because
it's too much, But it was awesome. I was just
grabbing everything I could there. You know, you never know
when you're gonna get back, so it's like I gotta
grab everything. I grabed like two balls, and grabbed a
bunch of towels, grabbed all extra gear I could get
my hands on.
Speaker 6 (46:18):
So that's your favorite part about the pro Bol?
Speaker 4 (46:19):
Yeah, you know, just I actually had appendicida during the
pro Bol, so I didn't get to enjoy it very
much because you know, it's just back to the room.
I was on antibiotics and I didn't really feel great,
so I didn't get to do much.
Speaker 5 (46:34):
But it was just cool to be a part of it.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
What part of the week did you get to start
getting sick. I was actually before, so you were not
feeling good going to Orlando, right, Yes, yeh.
Speaker 4 (46:46):
And it was two days before I got symptoms and
the doctor wanted to take it out right then and there,
but I'm like, I'm going to this thing, They're going
to leave it in. So they gave me antibiotics and
just monitored, monitored, monitored me pretty and you know, I survived.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
So I asked that because you know, we know that
what was it four years ago? You were a software
engineer and as far as you knew, that was what
you're gonna be, absolutely and now you're in now you're
the Pro Bowl kicker. And I just wondered if you
even feeling bad if you walked out on the field,
looked in the locker room and you're with all these
(47:23):
guys and you thought, what the hell happened here?
Speaker 5 (47:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (47:26):
Absolutely crazy because I watched those guys on TV as
a big fantasy football guy and big sit down and
watch football every day every day it's on. So to
be in that room was pretty incredible and definitely took
a lot of time to sit there and just enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (47:40):
Okay, question from the audience, Good evening, Brendan.
Speaker 4 (47:44):
Hey, my name's Rambo.
Speaker 5 (47:47):
Rambo, nice to meet you.
Speaker 4 (47:48):
Thank you.
Speaker 9 (47:49):
So since you're an awesome, fabulous kicker. We know that
you have a lot of kicking drills. Do you dedicate
a lot of time to working on drills tackling your opponents?
Speaker 5 (48:03):
I do not, and you know my wife would be
upset if I did.
Speaker 4 (48:08):
She tells me every day it's not my job to
tackle people. And I've heard that from a few guys
after watching the sand Fran kickers go down on the
team as well. So no, I don't practice tackling, but
you know, I got a big enough frame.
Speaker 5 (48:21):
I think I could do it if needed.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
But of course you're covering seems so good that that's never, ever,
absolutely never going to be a problem. So I hope
I don't make the lovely missus Aubrey angry with me.
We're we're just so admire your even keel, good, bad,
(48:44):
up down. Those are words that seem to exist only
in someone else's periphery. For you, right, you've mastered the
art of And when Jen was with you last year
and while you were signing autographs during a break, I
said to her, is he really like always like this?
She said, he is, and she said the only time
(49:04):
she ever saw you get really excited was the day
of the USFL Draft when you realized you were going
to at least get a chance to be a pro
football player. You remember the occasion.
Speaker 5 (49:17):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (49:18):
I'm sitting there working from home and you can put
air quotes because the draft's going on. It's an all
day thing. And the kicker draft round they did by position,
so the kicker around was like round forty five.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
Oh my gosh, okay, well hold on, I thought for
a second, because I want to, just for people who
don't know you played, saw you were number one pick
in soccer and you that didn't pan out the way
you wanted it to. So then you were a software
engineer yep, and you, despite being a competitive athlete, you thought, okay,
that's I guess. I just watched football now yep. And
(49:52):
she said to you one day, watching the football game,
somebody missed a kick, and Jen said, you could do that.
Speaker 5 (49:58):
She'll have me say that the kicker did missed the kick.
Speaker 4 (50:01):
I got that wrong before she says the kicker just
hit an extra point or something, and she's like, you
could do that, but yes, that is that is true.
Speaker 5 (50:09):
And then I spent and that was a spark.
Speaker 4 (50:11):
Yes, that was a spark. Spent three years training with
Brian with Brian Okay, then over with a bunch of combines.
You know, there's a kick kicker circuit where there's like
three or four major events where scouts come out to
and you have all the free agent kickers that think
they still have it go out and compete and maybe
(50:31):
two or three guys get a workout or whatnot. So
i'd go to those for I think I went through
a full cycle where I performed really well, but scouts
are like, you don't have any experience, you don't have
any films, so we can't give you an opportunity. And
that's where the USFL came in. And I knew if
that didn't work, if I didn't, you know, make a
roster there, then it probably wasn't gonna happen for me.
(50:55):
And it just so happened that we'd been sitting there
working from home watching that draft for forty five round.
I don't know why we didn't just turn it on
when the kicker draft was going, or the kicker round
was going, but you know you're a fan, yeah football exactly.
So we're sitting there watching and the kicker round comes
up and the Stallions had the last pick, and you know,
watch seven other kickers name get called, and then it
(51:18):
comes to the last pick, and.
Speaker 1 (51:20):
Right, stop, what are you thinking? Right now everybody's name
has been called.
Speaker 4 (51:24):
Yeah, you know because at the combine where they handed
out the contracts the kickers, they handed out probably twenty
contracts and had I had the best day at that
combine in my opinion, So I think I deserved the opportunity.
But it came down to the last pick, and I'm
at that point, well, you know, shoot, it's probably not
going to happen. And I almost like turned it off
(51:45):
and just walked away and got back to back to
my normal job, and like, okay, that's it. I was
about ready to just close the book and all right,
we gave it our all and it just didn't happen.
But it happens that there was a connection there that
I wasn't aware of. Skip Holtz was the coach of
the team, and he had played at Notre Dame with
one of the combine coaches that puts on. He actually
(52:09):
put on the combine for the USFL that year, which
John Carney. They played at Notre Dame at the same time,
and so John had been working with me quite a
few times at that point, and he knew I had
the ability. Just you never know what the kicker on
game day if they're going to be able to mentally
handle the load. So he told Skip, who at that
time only knew two or three of the kickers on
(52:29):
that list, that somebody had to give me an opportunity
because no one in the NFL was going to. But
I'm as good of the kicker as anyone else out
there if I can just handle the mental aspect of
the game.
Speaker 7 (52:41):
With everything you just said that, all I'm hearing is
that this journey was not easy for you, but you've
had the support from your wife. I watched the feature
that Amazon Prime did on you with Taylor Rooks, and
your dad even said.
Speaker 6 (52:55):
Of course, your dad's been there in the support as well.
But your dad had said that when you were growing
up your mom, you and your mom will watch European
soccer together.
Speaker 7 (53:03):
Yeah, you're guy, and guys would miss goals or miss kicks,
and she'd looked back.
Speaker 4 (53:08):
And say, you could have made that absolutely.
Speaker 7 (53:10):
So having that type of support through this entire journey,
how valuable has that been for you?
Speaker 8 (53:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (53:15):
I know sometimes you sit there on the couch and
you hear that and you're like, mom, you're you're delusional,
like whatever. But just that repetitive messaging it gets into
the back of your head when you go out there
and you're you're attempting that kick and you're like, Okay,
I can't do this, and then so it's it's huge
for me. I've never had an issue with a support system.
(53:35):
I was blessed with great parents, and I very intentionally
picked a good wife, so I have a good support
system and place.
Speaker 1 (53:44):
I got a clue for you, she picked.
Speaker 4 (53:48):
Yeah, you're you're right, But just I picked my support
structure pretty intentionally. Got really lucky starting off with good parents.
But from there, you know, people that are are negative
don't last long in my life, so I just kind
of move on. And I'd like to think I have
a good judge of character and I'm only close with
very few people and try and make sure those people
(54:10):
are good influences in my life.
Speaker 1 (54:12):
So do you view that's great? I mean, I just
I think that's so admirable and it's a great way
for people to go through life. You're a great example
of how it works. Do you have you changed over
a year and a half whatever you thought you're ceiling,
if there was one was for you in the NFL.
(54:34):
Has your idea of it changed?
Speaker 5 (54:36):
Yeah? Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (54:39):
Back when I started this process, I just wanted an
opportunity to go out there and kick, and you know,
looking at the minimum salary, I was thinking, well, shoot,
if I can do that for three years, then I
don't have to be a software engineer for seventeen Like
that's what the calculus was. Maybe I can retire seventeen
years earlier. So I think I've hit a point where
I'm going to get those three years, and you know,
(55:02):
that's the goal achieved. But obviously now we're looking at
it as a longer, longer term deal than that. So
everything from here is just is gravy for me.
Speaker 7 (55:12):
I know you're a person that stays locked in in
the moment, especially when you're on the field, But do
you have any goals this year for yourself?
Speaker 4 (55:20):
My goal is always to stay nine on field goals
and that's just about it. That's the only one I'll
set and everything else is out of my control.
Speaker 6 (55:30):
Everything will fall into place.
Speaker 4 (55:31):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (55:34):
Extra points is not.
Speaker 5 (55:37):
Well, but you want to be above that.
Speaker 1 (55:39):
Yeah, For extra points. Okay, I'm kind of surprised that
you are give yourself enough grace and not to think
you should make every kick you want to, But you did.
You hate you, So you've come to the realization that, Okay,
I'm gonna miss one at some.
Speaker 5 (55:57):
Point, absolutely, and that helps you from then. You know,
if you set.
Speaker 4 (56:01):
Goals and then you're unable to achieve them, you're gonna
have a moment where that sets in, and that might
drop your mentality a little bit, might start going a
little bit negative there. So I try and build in
a little bit of leeway so that doesn't happen. And
obviously it's already that moment would have already came and
went this.
Speaker 1 (56:18):
Year, so the self forgiveness process is pretty easy by
that point. Yeah, give this guy a big round of applause.
This is You're such a delight to talk to and
you're even more fun to watch.
Speaker 5 (56:29):
Thank you, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (56:30):
You bet. Brandon Aubrey the best kicker in the NFL,
and he's only getting started. Well the long kicks. The
long kicks are a pound of butter and h Nicole
and I will be back here next Monday night Side
car Social at the Star District in Frisco on the
Next Cowboy Hour.
Speaker 2 (56:51):
This has been a production of dallascowboys dot Com and
the Dallas Cowboys Football Club
Speaker 4 (57:00):
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to be. Al Tech Lancing just listen with al Tech Lansing,
perfecting sounds since nineteen twenty seven and by Omni Omni
Hotels and Resorts, the official hotel of the Dallas Cowboys.
Now your hosts, Nicole Well Hutchison and Bradshae.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Welcome everybody to the Cowboys Hour. Welcome to Victory Monday
because it was a great weekend and the Victory Monday
Club is here, happy to have you with us to
the Cowboys. Come out of there bye, and we are
here at Sidecar Social at the Star District in Frisco.
There are two NFL games on television and one of
(01:26):
them is streaming, but it'll stream on one of these
ninety four televisions that are here at Sidecar Social. I
promise great place to come and have great food and
drinks and watch the games. And then if you get
here at six o'clock, then you get to come see
the best kicker in football, Brandon Aubrey sitting right over here.
Thank you, thank you, no, thank you, thanks for coming out.
(01:48):
We want to as always welcome all of you who
are here. We always appreciate you folks coming to be
a part of the program. Here to all of you
listening wherever that might be on the doll Us Cowboys
Radio Network and watching whenever and wherever on streaming on
Dallascowboys dot com. So we'll wave to you. Nice to
(02:11):
have you folks with us. So I was when I
knew you were going to be coming, Brandon Aubrey. I
was thinking about what a great time we had with
you last season when you were here, and then I
got to thinking about how much your life has changed. Oh,
in that period of time, you are a Pro Bowl,
(02:33):
All Pro kicker, and now you are the father of
a visit today, ten weeks today, ten weeks today, Colton Aubrey,
which is why Brandon's lovely wife, Jen, who was here
last year when he came and shared the hour with us,
is at home. She's otherwise occupied. So let's start with that.
(02:59):
How in ten weeks, I mean, those of us who
have been parents for a while can tell you you, oh,
you don't even know what's coming, but it but but
every day's glorious, right, So, how is your life changed
in ten weeks?
Speaker 4 (03:13):
Yeah, a lot less sleep, I'd say, not a lot
less sleep, but jin for Gen in particular, a lot
less sleep. She's pulling the night shift, which is awesome
for me, making sure my body's in top shape. But
you know, just this week was awesome, the bye week,
being able to stay home and just spend some quality
of time, going out to the pumpkin patch, you know,
just doing those normal activities and make you feel kind
(03:36):
of like a normal person. Get to sit down and
watch football all day Sunday, got the Thursday night game
and all that. So it was it was nice to
just be a normal person. And as far as the
way life has changed, you know, hasn't changed much with
football season going on, it's still kind of the same
grind as last year, but I'm excited for the off
(03:56):
season ago and just kind of explore and kind of
watching and grow.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
Just sit there for hours, just staring at him.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
He's finally smiling, so he's just sitting there looking at
us and occasionally cooing and smiling, which is the best
thing in the world.
Speaker 6 (04:09):
What's the day to day like dad like like life?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Like?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Yeah, rush home, get theirs as fast as possible from football,
and just kind of change a diaper, do everything I
can around around the house, easing the load for gin there.
But there's not much I can do because you know,
I can't feed him, so I try my best, but
you know, just just be present and enjoy the moments
(04:32):
to watch him grow. He's not doing a whole lot,
he's not mobile yet, just smiling and cooing.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Did you do you find yourself coming home and walking
in and saying to her, oh, honey, it's great to
see what did I miss today?
Speaker 5 (04:44):
Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Yeah, it's kind of changed the dynamic between the two
of us. It's kind of just all about him now,
which is a good thing, I think. But I've got
to find the time to, you know, sit there and
enjoy moments together as well.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
So you touched on it, But this is I'm a
dad too, in case anybody didn't know, but I've been
one for quite a while. But I remember that we
were just talking about the all the great discoveries that
you and your wife have coming because of the discoveries
that he has coming. Are there one or two little
(05:19):
things that just in ten weeks that you mentioned smiling
and cooing, Any little things that made you go, oh wow,
I never knew that was such a cool thing.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Yeah, just control of your arms and legs. He has
zero control of his arms and legs. Kind of scares
himself awake sometimes and just take that for granted, I guess.
But I'm excited for him to kind of figure out
how to control his body and start crawling around and
just be able to play with him a little bit more,
because right now it's just making faces out him and
(05:50):
seeing if he reacts. Doesn't really track the fingers. He's
just just starting to track with his eyes. But not
a lot you can do other than just sit there
and stare at him.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
So when you were here last year, we talked about
and we'll touch on it some of it again tonight.
Everybody didn't get to hear it about your journey, how
you got here and how you got to the NFL.
But really the thrust of the conversation had to be
what an unusual thing it was the way you got
to the NFL and you started right white hot, right
(06:22):
out of the chuot, And how are you enjoying it?
And so now you have kept it going for almost
another half season, some big awards in football, but now
you have something else, another reason to go to work
(06:45):
and succeed and do all that. Has it made you
feel any different about football?
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Absolutely gives me a chance to go home and just
not focus on performance and go home and just kind
of escape a lot easier than I used to. It
used to be hard to get home and think about
anything other than how I kicked today.
Speaker 5 (07:02):
Or what I got to do tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Now it kind of time flies by sitting there taking
care of his needs, and you know, just oh, it's
time for bed. All of a sudden, you kind of
don't want to go to bed, but I got to
just to get the energy back for tomorrow.
Speaker 7 (07:15):
Kind of piggybacking off of that, Dak has always talked
about his dad's strength when he had his baby girl,
and a lot of the players do when they have kids.
Speaker 6 (07:23):
But for you, what has that dad's strength been, Like.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
It's been awesome, you know, kind of The next game,
like four days later was the Raiders game, which I
got the hit sixty six yard veil, which is crazy,
and then kind of took that into the season with
Cleveland getting another shot at it, whichh that one would
have counted, and then the Ravens game the sixty five
so got a lot of long field goal attempts. I'm
(07:48):
not sure if the dad's strength is a real thing,
but if it is, I'm definitely benefiting from it.
Speaker 7 (07:53):
Now, this was this you and the missus long term
plan as far as like having a kid right now
or was it just kind of like a you know,
that's a personal question.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
No, that's a personal question. My goodness.
Speaker 5 (08:05):
We always wanted kids.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
But you know, I give Jen a hard time because
she wanted to be like financially stable and you know, well,
excuse me, but you now are exactly Yeah, I working
as a software engineer and she was a flight instructors, Like,
I'm pretty sure we're financially set now where we're good
to go. So I give her hard time. It took
me making an NFL roster for her to let me
start a family with herself.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah. I don't even want to go down that road,
but but I do. Just one or two other baby
related things that I just kind of cause only been
ten weeks, but I didn't realize until today that Colton
was born like hours after the preseason game in Las Vegas?
Is that right? And it was the Raider the Rams game,
(08:50):
the Rams game, the first one, Yeah, the first one.
So tell the people the story about how you because
I just think this is greatness. How how you knew
it was impending? Yes, let's try to think about work.
I can't be in two places at once, but I
really want to get to the second place as fast
as I can. How did you? How did you navigate
getting from LA back here?
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Yeah? There was a lot of planning in preparation, which
I don't usually do a good job of. So I'm
proud of myself for that one. But we booked a
flight through American airlines like months in advance because it
was a planned c section for the Monday morning after
the game. So our game ended in LA at like
five o'clock or something like that, or four point thirty
and had a flight out of Lax at seven and
(09:36):
had the Cowboys set up some transportation, which the car
was in the tunnel waiting for me.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
They're they're good at it.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
So I ran off the field kind of as I
realized the game was over, probably ten seconds left on
the clock. Sprinted in took all my gear off and.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
I was actually, did you change out of your uniform?
Speaker 5 (09:54):
Changed out of it?
Speaker 4 (09:55):
But I did not shower, which is kind of gross.
Which I got on in that car and I was
in the TERM. I had gotten pre check. I went
and got TSA pre check in Auxnard, just so I
get home a little bit faster. And that's an awesome process.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
You didn't have it before, No, that is life changing.
Oh yeah, oh oh you have no idea. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
It took me like ten seconds to get through the
term security, which is awesome. So I was at the
gate within like ten minutes of the game ending. Yeah,
with that car the police escort TSA pre check. I
actually had time to sit down at the California Peacha Kitchen,
have a little celebratory beer for with my set boy,
and hop on the flight, which actually my father in
law's father in law had booked the flight as well
(10:36):
as the captain. So he flies for American Airlines and
he made sure that he got that flight, so if
I was running a little bit behind, he'd kind of
delay it for us.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
So there's a great picture on your I think it's
your Instagram of you sitting in the cockpit with your
father in law. Yes, And did you stay up there?
And he then he literally flew you back. Was it
a deadhead or was it a flight full of.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Pe and always full of people? It was a normal,
normally scheduled American.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Airlines And did you get Did you sit in the
cockpit with him?
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (11:06):
No, that would be very illegal.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
I sat in the in the back, so I just
came up there for the picture and beforehand, and then
went back to my seat.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
That's such a flex my father in law. That's that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah, absolutely all right, So much to talk about with
the Cowboys, all pro kicker Brandon Aubrey, who is now
financially stable and therefore can be the father of ten
week old Colton. We're at Sidecars social at the Star
District in Frisco with Brandon and we'll be right back.
Speaker 8 (11:45):
Cowboys balls don't come wars to the.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Miller Lite Cowboys Hour, supported by Albertson and broadcasting live
from Sidecars Social at the Star Infrasco.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Welcome back everybody to the Cowboys Hour, Coming out of
the Cowboys by thanks for being with us. Special guest
Cowboys All Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey. We are here at
Sidecar Social. There you go, There you go, bad, you
woke up out of your beers just long enough. Take
the queue. And Nicole, who who brings us this opportunity
(15:11):
to visit with the great Brandon?
Speaker 6 (15:13):
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Speaker 7 (15:16):
For tailgate favorites, Oh, Albertson's and Tom Thumb get ten
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Speaker 1 (15:28):
When we sat down up here, Nicole and I both realized,
independently of each other that we uh missed a great
opportunity because you've got your shirt? You own one? Oh
you don't, well, I missed it.
Speaker 6 (15:43):
Wait some of the butter well sorry, slow moment there,
My bad.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
I did to pick it up where by getting by
getting to this stage in life, I have learned to
take nothing for granted. So uh, Cowboys, Mr Right, Brandon, Yeah,
they came up with this shirt based off the nickname
that Dak Prescott gave Brandon last year. Butter, And they've
(16:11):
got this phenomenal T shirt with your pictures on it, right,
absolute says Butter, and we each have one. Neither of
us wore tonight. We were not We were not thinking.
So another time, so, uh, how did you find out
that they were doing that?
Speaker 4 (16:28):
I'm just walking off the field after practice one day.
The social media team was there with it and kind
of asked.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Me they already had done it. They locked it up
and printed it out. Yep.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
And they asked me to give the shirt a rating.
And I looked over and that's really cool. Who did that?
Speaker 5 (16:43):
But it's awesome.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
I love that. It's a really really cool shirt and.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Glad they printed it for me.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
How many they give you?
Speaker 4 (16:52):
I'm working on it. I tried to put in a
big order here of like seventy or so. I'm gonna
give one to each guy on the team and then
one to my family members.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
Do you have your friends from back home? Do they
rock the shirt at all?
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Well, this is beg home.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
Yeah, you know what I mean, like high school friends,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Absolutely not a lot of time to see friends right now,
so I'm not sure. I'm sure a lot of them
have it.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
If not Dallas Cowboys pro shop dot com. That's how
I got mine. Just went online and said I must
have my butter shirt.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
Appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yeah, oh yeah, it's phenomenal. And and you do get
a cut, right, yes, I do?
Speaker 5 (17:26):
Okay, yea through the PA.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
There's a small percentage goes to the players, which is
awesome because I didn't really have to do any work
for it.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
So well, that's the best kind of money. Yes, there's
the best kind of money. So the the butter. By
the way, there's a great It's one of my favorite
pictures I've seen all calendar year. On Brandon's it's on
your wife's Instagram.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
She actually added me as a collaborator, so it's on both.
That's where the confusion came from.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, and it is young Colton. How old was he that?
Speaker 4 (18:00):
He was probably like five hours old? Five hours in
that picture, yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
And he's wearing a onesie that says baby, Butter. Now,
if that's not the greatest thing you've ever seen, so
let's revisit that. I know we touched on it last year,
but you've had some time for it to grow on you.
That's a name Dak gave you. Yeah, because you're smooth
as butter? Right?
Speaker 5 (18:20):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (18:21):
And what did you think when you heard that?
Speaker 4 (18:24):
You know, I was just happy that the team was
talking about me in a positive light, so, you know,
I didn't have much time to think about it, but
I love it. It's it's a great name. It's a
complimentary of the style of kicking I have, which you know,
at anytime someone's calling you smooth as a kicker, that's
a good thing.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
So I'm happy. Let's stick with it now.
Speaker 6 (18:43):
Butter is a nickname they gave you. But is it?
Was there a nickname that you, I don't know, maybe
have thought of before that?
Speaker 4 (18:49):
No? No, no, I don't just think about kicking kicking
the ball, seatball, kickball.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Do many guys call you butter?
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Yeah, a lot of guys around the team.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
How long did it take you to start answering to it?
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Quite a while, you know, Dak, you know, would be
yelling Butter across the room and I'd just be staring
at the wall and Brian or Jen would hit me
and be like, pay attention, that's you.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
That's you. So the success that you had last year.
Last year was remarkable, but not a surprise to you.
Is that a fair statement?
Speaker 4 (19:29):
You know, if you would have told me that's the
way the season would have gone at the beginning of
the season, yeah, I would have been surprising, just kind
of when you get the job, you kind of want
to just go out there and make your kicks and
be there the next week. But reflecting on the way
I got there, I don't think so, just because you.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
Know, you're going out there and you're you're.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Making one kick at a time, and then all of
a sudden you do that over and over and over again.
You get to the end of the year, and it's
it's not easy to make one kick, but it's something
that you can process that you can do. So who
go out there and do it once, then you go
out there and do it again, just one time, one
at a time. Then all of a sudden, at the
end of year, you're sitting at well, I think it
was thirty five for thirty seven, So.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Yeah, you're in a year and alf you're at ninety
three percent or something like that.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
I keep that going.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Yeah. Yeah. Was there a point at all, either last
year or as the success continued into this year that
you said, I'm good at this. I'm surprised, but I
can I'm really good.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
I try not to think like that.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Just try and think go out there and again and
make the kicks, because at any given time, you know,
you missed two kicks in one game, people are gonna
be calling for your head, and your your percentage goes
from ninety three to ninety and then you have no
will room with you with your your stats there. So
as soon as you think you haven't made and you
stop focusing on the process or what you've been doing
to get there, it can go away pretty quick.
Speaker 7 (20:54):
Is there any pressure to have to repeat that type
of success this year for you?
Speaker 6 (20:59):
Do you feel it at all?
Speaker 4 (21:00):
No?
Speaker 5 (21:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
I try not to let myself feel the pressure. And
you know there's enough pressure on each individual kick as
you go out there internally, because you know anytime you
go out there you have points to score, and if
you don't do your job, it's really obvious and hurts
the team pretty significantly. So each kick is pressure field
enough that there's no pressure from past game, last week,
(21:25):
or even the previous kick.
Speaker 5 (21:27):
It's just go out there and do the task at hand.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
What helps you not feel that pressure?
Speaker 5 (21:34):
I'm not entirely sure.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
You know. I lock into my task at such a
small incremental level that there's not really a whole lot
of room to think about anything other than taking the
next step going onto the field.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
Literally just watching the field goals shrink.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
Or try grow as I walk out there, and then
going through my process in my head each and every
kick is I'm literally talking to myself through each step
and what I'm doing with my hips, what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
With my consciously. You talk to yourself about each step consciously.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Yeah, it's just so there's no room to think about
the pressure, think about the outcome or where we were
at in the game. It's just exactly what I have
to do, and that kind of clears the mind.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
Have you always been like that, eve like soccer?
Speaker 4 (22:23):
No, that's something that's very much my process with just football,
and my first year in the USFL, I didn't have that.
I just went out and kind of just win wong
it or winged it. Winked or wong.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
It could be wong. For the rest of us, it
would be winged, gotcha.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
So I went out there and winged it, and you know,
I didn't have quite the success I wanted. It was
probably like eighty three, eighty four percent, eighty five, some
somewhere in that range. And wasn't quite happy with it.
And so I spent some time with a bunch of coaches,
a mental strength coach, and just mental performance was the
next step, because I felt like, you know, my kicking
is good, but sometimes I go out there and it's
(23:05):
just not where it needs to be. So I spent
a lot of time focusing on the mental aspect of
the game, which more often than not, that's what holds
kickers back and really all all position players in football.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
I'm sure, go ahead ahead.
Speaker 6 (23:19):
How often do you kind of meet with the mental
coaches and things like that?
Speaker 4 (23:23):
So I don't do it much anymore, but when I'll
get my process defined and refining it quite frequently.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
That first year in the USFL, Was that the last
time you missed two kicks in the game or did
you even that year?
Speaker 8 (23:40):
No?
Speaker 5 (23:41):
I probably did.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
I think week nine of my first season against the breakers,
I missed two in that game, an extra point in
the field goal, and then we actually got like a
thirty yard game winning field goal or like thirty three
yard game winning field goal opportunity, and I made it, so,
you know, short memory for the team. All right, I'm
the hero now, even though I cost us some points
(24:04):
out there. But you go out there and make the
last one, usually it's a good day.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
And how long did it take you to stop whipping
yourself over having missed four points worth of kicks?
Speaker 4 (24:19):
You know, I still you're still doing it a little bit, maybe,
but you know, we've we've come a long way from there.
And I think going through the process of coming up
with that mental process for myself was probably because of
that performance.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
You won two USFL championships. Yes, did you get rings? Yes?
Speaker 4 (24:39):
I do.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
I have them.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Do you ever you ever wear them?
Speaker 5 (24:42):
No?
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Maybe?
Speaker 4 (24:43):
I wore the first one to the second ones and
wore it to a USFL game, but not just around.
They're pretty large and obnoxious.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Oh well, if you ever win a Super Bowl? Here
what you think? You know? Large?
Speaker 5 (25:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Wait, do you see what that would look like? So
when you you hit the sixty six yarder in pre season,
which I think by now, it's just most of us
aren't surprised anymore, like we're stunned when you miss one.
But I honestly think I think I've said this on
(25:22):
the air. I'm not sure, but you're going for seventy
one sometime this year, the circumstance will present itself because
you've hit it. You've cleaned that much distance sometimes for
a kick that was less yarded, so you had that
sixty six yard and then the one that they wiped
off in Cleveland, and that's a that's a long way
(25:44):
from missing too. With Birmingham and like talking to yourself
about how did you how did you get from here
to there?
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Yeah, a lot of preparation and practice, kind of reflecting
on mistakes I've made, And I made a lot of
mistakes in training camp in preseason that first year where
we were lucky to have the.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Same city in Birmingham or Hell and here last year.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Yeah, yeah, a lot of chances to correct those mistakes.
And even Week one, missing that first extra point on
a sudden change, I was lucky to have another sudden
change that game. We actually had two more sudden changes.
It's just you know, reflecting on mistakes and coming up
with the plan to not make that mistake again has
(26:33):
been massive for me.
Speaker 7 (26:34):
Brian, you're kicking coaches here? Yes, shout out to Brian.
Can you wave his hand whereas he were sitting with Brian?
Speaker 6 (26:40):
Can you hear us?
Speaker 1 (26:41):
There we go? Nice work, by the way, Brian, Nice work.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
How valuable has you know been working with Brian for
since nineteen yeah, twenty nineteen?
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (26:51):
How much has that just been so valuable for your growth?
Speaker 5 (26:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (26:55):
He kind of showed me what the ropes looked like
for kickers, and what a workout would look like and
the proper form and guided me through finding my steps.
Each kicker kind of has their own steps and their
own process for kickoffs and field goal so he helped
me kind of map out what that looks like and
then helped me make sure. He gave me drills to
(27:19):
work on my own to kind of figure out how
to get to that same spot every time. It's just
repetitively taking those steps, and then it was a good
signing board for where I stood against other kickers. Kind
of just helped me build myself up and build my confidence.
And then when he had taught me everything he could
teach me. He pushed me out the door, which was
(27:40):
also helpful because you know, you can't just sit around
and kick on a high school field over and over
again and expect a job to come. So I had
to go out there and put myself out in the
environment when I was ready to make a good first impression,
which he helped me. You know, over the course of
two and a half years, developed myself to a point
where I could make a good first impression.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Right before we take our next break, Where do you
think you stand in the profession right now?
Speaker 5 (28:05):
Where do I stand?
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yeah? In your mind? Yeah, I mean we can look
at the numbers, but that's not that's just a that's
a piece something on a piece of paper.
Speaker 5 (28:13):
I prefer not to even think about it.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
That's just it's so irrelevant for kickers to compare each
other because we're we're never on the field at the
same time.
Speaker 5 (28:19):
So I'm just gonna go out there and kick the ball.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Yeah, we're gonna We're gonna try to probe the psyche.
Brandon Aubrey's our guest on the Cowboys Hour. We're a
sidecar social in Fresco in the Star District. We'll be
right back.
Speaker 8 (28:43):
Cowboys as Don't Cowards.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
To the Miller Lite Cowboys Hour, supported by Albertson and
broadcasting live from Sidecars Social at the Star in Frasco.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
And welcome back Brad Sham and Nicole Hutchinson and our
special guest, Brandon Aubrey, the best kicker in the NFL.
Brandon Aubrey. Here there we go back.
Speaker 6 (32:02):
Up the.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
So we were talking before we went on the air.
The Detroit Lyons kicker who they got their guy got hurt.
They signed it Jake Bates is his name? Is that
which I didn't realize until getting ready for the game
a couple of weeks ago, that he was also a
college soccer player, and much as you you thought you
(32:30):
were going to be a software engineer when you quit
playing soccer. And if you're if you're not the All
Pro kicker this year, it will be because his team
has a better year than your team, and he will
have had a good year, and that's what people tend
to look at. He's fun to watch. Uh did you
get to talk to him?
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Yeah? I got to talk to him after the game,
and yeah, he, like you said, he's a he's a
great story he was college soccer walk on and then
I think he walked on to Arkansas as well as
a kickoff specialist. He wanted to get opportunities to kick
field goals but never got it in college. Then went
on to I think he got a couple of looks
(33:11):
in training camp with like the Texans, but didn't get kept.
They have fair Baron as an excellent kicker as well,
so they weren't going to keep him as long as
fair Baron stayed healthy, and he did so. Then he
found a home in Michigan with the Michigan Panthers in
the UFL last season and did an incredible job. He
(33:32):
made three long kicks from sixty plus.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Did you play them last year?
Speaker 5 (33:37):
I didn't.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
He was this past year. He said they changed the UFL.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
That's yeah, never mind, So he was a year behind me.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
There draw the question you're on.
Speaker 5 (33:45):
But he he played really well earned an opportunity.
Speaker 4 (33:47):
And you know, the cool story about with him is
he got to stay in the same stadium because the
Panthers played in ford Field and now I'm still at
ford Field, which is really cool.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
And he said he was selling bricks.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Yeah, I didn't know that part of it. But yeah,
that's what he was saying.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Yeah, he said it at a press conference here, maybe
after the game yesterday, So he's they're having a moment
like Cowboy fans did with you last year, and continue
to the process that you described a little bit ago
about thinking through every step. Still, that surprised me a
(34:29):
little because we all want to think that by now.
You just wipe the slate clean and you go out
and there's the ball. It's always in the right place
thanks to your snapper and your holder, and you just
kick it. So now, well, here's what I'm imagining now,
that you go out there and you find a way
(34:49):
to block out all the noise and it becomes like
a cone of silence, and maybe there's some like chariots
of Fire music or something playing in the far a distance,
and that's all you're aware of, and here as you
go through the process and hit them. But how am
I completely wrong? No?
Speaker 5 (35:08):
Not not really.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
So that's the idea where I wish I could just
tune everything out and not have anything going through my brain,
But that's not realistic to achieve on every kick. So
I got to go out there and kind of crowd
out all the other noise with my own talking. So
that's what I'm doing. I don't necessarily need to hear
all of those things I'm saying to go out and
kick the ball, But I'd rather hear that than if
(35:31):
you don't make this kick, this happens, if that guy
doesn't expect that guy's going to do that, this guy's
gonna do that. So I don't want to be thinking
about the rush. I don't want to be thinking about
the snap or the hold. I just want to be
thinking about what I'm doing. So I'd rather hear myself
talking than you know, any of the fans or the
other team or whatever it could be that pops into
your head when you're, you know, going about your daily job.
Speaker 7 (35:51):
Kickers have become much more accurate, and so it's brought
upon like reports of the NFL possibly narrowing the uprights.
Speaker 6 (35:59):
What's your thought that.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
I think it's kind of silly. I mean, it doesn't
need to change. It would make, you know, our jobs
a lot more difficult if you narrow the uprights, and
guys are better at their job, but I mean, every
position is getting better at their job. You don't need
to change the game for that. And if you're frustrated
with kicking because it's too accurate that you're going to
(36:21):
be more frustrated with it when you can't rely on
kickers to make inside of forty because I mean, if
you narrow the uprights, it's going to be very, very
difficult to be consistent inside of even forty.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
In the practice field, is there not a goal post?
Would like the Arena League?
Speaker 5 (36:40):
Yeah, upright, we do have those.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
And when you kick at those, how do you do?
Speaker 4 (36:45):
I mean, do you keep track or No? That's just
a visual trick and playing on myself. So when I
go out to the bigger uprights, then you know you
can kind of oh wow, there's a lot of room
to play with there. So no, I when I'm kicking
on those, I'm just for feel. And then you know,
even when it goes wide right by like a foot,
You're like, a that's good. It's good on normal uprights.
(37:07):
So it's more of just a visual trick I'm playing
on myself. I couldn't tell you how many go in
and don't go in when I'm kicking on those. Probably
I'd say they're fifty percent smaller's fifty percent less rooms.
So probably somewhere around twenty five to fifty percent. Let's
go in if I had to guess.
Speaker 7 (37:23):
What's your regiment outside of the practypical practice you get
at the Star Because you know, you see, of course,
like dv's and wide receivers they go run or whatever,
do routes and things like that. But what's your type
of regiment off of the practice.
Speaker 6 (37:37):
Field at the Star.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
So with kicking, it's such a violent motion that you
can't really do it very frequently. So we're only kicking
twice a week in practice and the rest of it
is just recovery. We do our lifts and our runs.
There's not a whole lot of film to watch. We'll
watch each kick back, but in practice we only get
six live ops with the team, so we get six
(37:59):
six reps a week on film to go break down
what you're doing. Other than that, it's just a feel
feedback kind of go out there and I kicked the
ball and if it felt a little bit like this,
maybe Brian has eyes on it and he's like, oh,
that was this that you didn't do normally.
Speaker 5 (38:15):
So there's not a lot of kicking, and you know,
I like that.
Speaker 4 (38:19):
I like to be fresh on game days, and I
don't kick a lot in warm ups because at that point,
if you're struggling, I'd rather be fresh than try and
fix it on the field, because you're likely not gonna
fix it on the field. If you're you're just at
least fresh and struggling. It's better than being sore and
tired and struggling.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
So how has the new kickoff rule impacted your mental
process that you used to just you could line up
and if they, if bones said get rid of it,
just you could just boom it and it's a touch
pack yeah the league last year. Yeah, but now you're
kind of you're hitting a little chip shot here and
a wedge down there, and it's not as easy.
Speaker 4 (38:59):
Yeah, So that's where the soccer takes over. That's kind
of where the flow comes in. I'm not really thinking
about I don't have a strict regiment on that right now.
Speaker 5 (39:08):
It's just put the ball on the tee.
Speaker 4 (39:10):
And just kind of pick a spot and kind of
in my brain say, I want to hit a driven ball,
or I want to hit a little lofted ball or
whatever I want to hit, and I go out there
and hit the best of my ability. So that is
more of the soccer player where I'm not really thinking
about anything in particular, just put the ball in that
area and then that's that's it.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Do you practice that more?
Speaker 5 (39:30):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (39:31):
I practiced that quite a bit that Last year. I
hit no kickoffs in practice. This year I'm probably hitting
like twenty a week, just making sure I can find
my spot and hit it and make little tweaks here
and there if I'm not hitting the exact spot.
Speaker 7 (39:43):
I want what different parts of the foot do you
use for the different type of kicks.
Speaker 6 (39:47):
I'm interested to know that.
Speaker 4 (39:50):
I don't know.
Speaker 7 (39:50):
It's like for a wedge. Is there a different way
that you kick the ball or no?
Speaker 6 (39:54):
I don't know if I want to save it?
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Yeah, yeah, okay, so that gets me to on sidekicks.
Speaker 5 (40:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Did you see the game? Yes? I think it was
yesterday where the guys like Whift. Yeah, which game was that?
Speaker 4 (40:12):
That was the forty nine Ers Chiefs. That was the
It was a punter, it was wish. Now is he
going to have to do something that's probably not in
his job description? And you know, didn't have the best
the best showing, but I'm sure if he went out
and did it again, he'd do.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Better, all right, So you have the only successful on
sidekick in the league this year.
Speaker 4 (40:33):
Yeah, speaks more of the guys on the field with
me than me, because you know, my job is fairly
easy on that one with the way they asked me
to hit the ball there, So that's an easy, easy
job for me to do. Really hard to go recover that.
So the guy, the other ten guys on the field
did fantastic and you know, crazy stat that's actually CJ's
(40:55):
second fumble or not fumble on sticker recovery, which is
pretty crazy.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
In his career.
Speaker 5 (41:01):
You mean in his career.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Yeah, the other one, if I'm not mistaken, the other
one was against Atlanta. Yeah, yeah, in twenty twenty, same
kind of gig. Yeah, So what how many different kinds
of onside kicks do you practice?
Speaker 5 (41:17):
I don't practice on side kick.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
You don't know.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
It's such a rare thing to do, and that.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
You just put the ball down flat and say this, yeah,
hit it over there.
Speaker 4 (41:26):
Yeah for that one in particular, if bones asked me
to do something different, we'll go and do something different.
But it's so infrequent to hit an on side kick
that it's not something I really practice at least in season,
I'll go out and mess around with them, maybe once
a month where I just have an on tie kick
day and just go have some fun.
Speaker 5 (41:45):
See what I can come up with.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
Well, I hope I don't have the opportunity to talk
about it in a game because with the new rules,
you have to be behind in the fourth quarter to
onside kick, So hopefully that won't come up. But if
it ever does, Uh, I got a story for everybody. Nicole,
who is bringing us this lovely program.
Speaker 6 (42:04):
This evening, I've gotcha cover right, lu Casey stand tall
while you're tailgating or cheering in the stands with the
Dallas Cowboys Collection by Lucasey. Shop the collection today at
Lucasey's sixty FW Lucations and online at lucasey dot com.
Lucasey the official boot of the Dallas Cowboys. In Dallas
Cowboys Cheerleader, We'll.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
Be back with Brandon Aubrey on the Cowboys Hour and
your questions at Sidecar Social when the Cowboys Hour continues.
Speaker 8 (43:40):
No Cowboys don't Cowboys Us.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
To the Miller Lite Cowboys Hour, supported by Albertson and
broadcasting live from Sidecars Social at the star Infrasco.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
Welcome back to Brad Sham, Nicole Hutchinson, and the All
Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey from the Dallas Cowboys. I really
only just noticed you were wearing your Pro Bowl Games hoodie.
How big a bag full of swag did you bring
home from?
Speaker 5 (46:00):
So much stuff? It's uh.
Speaker 4 (46:02):
I almost couldn't make my flight with that bag because
it's too much, But it was awesome. I was just
grabbing everything I could there. You know, you never know
when you're gonna get back, so it's like I gotta
grab everything. I grabed like two balls, and grabbed a
bunch of towels, grabbed all extra gear I could get
my hands on.
Speaker 6 (46:18):
So that's your favorite part about the pro Bol?
Speaker 4 (46:19):
Yeah, you know, just I actually had appendicida during the
pro Bol, so I didn't get to enjoy it very
much because you know, it's just back to the room.
I was on antibiotics and I didn't really feel great,
so I didn't get to do much.
Speaker 5 (46:34):
But it was just cool to be a part of it.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
What part of the week did you get to start
getting sick. I was actually before, so you were not
feeling good going to Orlando, right, Yes, yeh.
Speaker 4 (46:46):
And it was two days before I got symptoms and
the doctor wanted to take it out right then and there,
but I'm like, I'm going to this thing, They're going
to leave it in. So they gave me antibiotics and
just monitored, monitored, monitored me pretty and you know, I survived.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
So I asked that because you know, we know that
what was it four years ago? You were a software
engineer and as far as you knew, that was what
you're gonna be, absolutely and now you're in now you're
the Pro Bowl kicker. And I just wondered if you
even feeling bad if you walked out on the field,
looked in the locker room and you're with all these
(47:23):
guys and you thought, what the hell happened here?
Speaker 5 (47:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (47:26):
Absolutely crazy because I watched those guys on TV as
a big fantasy football guy and big sit down and
watch football every day every day it's on. So to
be in that room was pretty incredible and definitely took
a lot of time to sit there and just enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (47:40):
Okay, question from the audience, Good evening, Brendan.
Speaker 4 (47:44):
Hey, my name's Rambo.
Speaker 5 (47:47):
Rambo, nice to meet you.
Speaker 4 (47:48):
Thank you.
Speaker 9 (47:49):
So since you're an awesome, fabulous kicker. We know that
you have a lot of kicking drills. Do you dedicate
a lot of time to working on drills tackling your opponents?
Speaker 5 (48:03):
I do not, and you know my wife would be
upset if I did.
Speaker 4 (48:08):
She tells me every day it's not my job to
tackle people. And I've heard that from a few guys
after watching the sand Fran kickers go down on the
team as well. So no, I don't practice tackling, but
you know, I got a big enough frame.
Speaker 5 (48:21):
I think I could do it if needed.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
But of course you're covering seems so good that that's never, ever,
absolutely never going to be a problem. So I hope
I don't make the lovely missus Aubrey angry with me.
We're we're just so admire your even keel, good, bad,
(48:44):
up down. Those are words that seem to exist only
in someone else's periphery. For you, right, you've mastered the
art of And when Jen was with you last year
and while you were signing autographs during a break, I
said to her, is he really like always like this?
She said, he is, and she said the only time
(49:04):
she ever saw you get really excited was the day
of the USFL Draft when you realized you were going
to at least get a chance to be a pro
football player. You remember the occasion.
Speaker 5 (49:17):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (49:18):
I'm sitting there working from home and you can put
air quotes because the draft's going on. It's an all
day thing. And the kicker draft round they did by position,
so the kicker around was like round forty five.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
Oh my gosh, okay, well hold on, I thought for
a second, because I want to, just for people who
don't know you played, saw you were number one pick
in soccer and you that didn't pan out the way
you wanted it to. So then you were a software
engineer yep, and you, despite being a competitive athlete, you thought, okay,
that's I guess. I just watched football now yep. And
(49:52):
she said to you one day, watching the football game,
somebody missed a kick, and Jen said, you could do that.
Speaker 5 (49:58):
She'll have me say that the kicker did missed the kick.
Speaker 4 (50:01):
I got that wrong before she says the kicker just
hit an extra point or something, and she's like, you
could do that, but yes, that is that is true.
Speaker 5 (50:09):
And then I spent and that was a spark.
Speaker 4 (50:11):
Yes, that was a spark. Spent three years training with
Brian with Brian Okay, then over with a bunch of combines.
You know, there's a kick kicker circuit where there's like
three or four major events where scouts come out to
and you have all the free agent kickers that think
they still have it go out and compete and maybe
(50:31):
two or three guys get a workout or whatnot. So
i'd go to those for I think I went through
a full cycle where I performed really well, but scouts
are like, you don't have any experience, you don't have
any films, so we can't give you an opportunity. And
that's where the USFL came in. And I knew if
that didn't work, if I didn't, you know, make a
roster there, then it probably wasn't gonna happen for me.
(50:55):
And it just so happened that we'd been sitting there
working from home watching that draft for forty five round.
I don't know why we didn't just turn it on
when the kicker draft was going, or the kicker round
was going, but you know you're a fan, yeah football exactly.
So we're sitting there watching and the kicker round comes
up and the Stallions had the last pick, and you know,
watch seven other kickers name get called, and then it
(51:18):
comes to the last pick, and.
Speaker 1 (51:20):
Right, stop, what are you thinking? Right now everybody's name
has been called.
Speaker 4 (51:24):
Yeah, you know because at the combine where they handed
out the contracts the kickers, they handed out probably twenty
contracts and had I had the best day at that
combine in my opinion, So I think I deserved the opportunity.
But it came down to the last pick, and I'm
at that point, well, you know, shoot, it's probably not
going to happen. And I almost like turned it off
(51:45):
and just walked away and got back to back to
my normal job, and like, okay, that's it. I was
about ready to just close the book and all right,
we gave it our all and it just didn't happen.
But it happens that there was a connection there that
I wasn't aware of. Skip Holtz was the coach of
the team, and he had played at Notre Dame with
one of the combine coaches that puts on. He actually
(52:09):
put on the combine for the USFL that year, which
John Carney. They played at Notre Dame at the same time,
and so John had been working with me quite a
few times at that point, and he knew I had
the ability. Just you never know what the kicker on
game day if they're going to be able to mentally
handle the load. So he told Skip, who at that
time only knew two or three of the kickers on
(52:29):
that list, that somebody had to give me an opportunity
because no one in the NFL was going to. But
I'm as good of the kicker as anyone else out
there if I can just handle the mental aspect of
the game.
Speaker 7 (52:41):
With everything you just said that, all I'm hearing is
that this journey was not easy for you, but you've
had the support from your wife. I watched the feature
that Amazon Prime did on you with Taylor Rooks, and
your dad even said.
Speaker 6 (52:55):
Of course, your dad's been there in the support as well.
But your dad had said that when you were growing
up your mom, you and your mom will watch European
soccer together.
Speaker 7 (53:03):
Yeah, you're guy, and guys would miss goals or miss kicks,
and she'd looked back.
Speaker 4 (53:08):
And say, you could have made that absolutely.
Speaker 7 (53:10):
So having that type of support through this entire journey,
how valuable has that been for you?
Speaker 8 (53:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (53:15):
I know sometimes you sit there on the couch and
you hear that and you're like, mom, you're you're delusional,
like whatever. But just that repetitive messaging it gets into
the back of your head when you go out there
and you're you're attempting that kick and you're like, Okay,
I can't do this, and then so it's it's huge
for me. I've never had an issue with a support system.
(53:35):
I was blessed with great parents, and I very intentionally
picked a good wife, so I have a good support
system and place.
Speaker 1 (53:44):
I got a clue for you, she picked.
Speaker 4 (53:48):
Yeah, you're you're right, But just I picked my support
structure pretty intentionally. Got really lucky starting off with good parents.
But from there, you know, people that are are negative
don't last long in my life, so I just kind
of move on. And I'd like to think I have
a good judge of character and I'm only close with
very few people and try and make sure those people
(54:10):
are good influences in my life.
Speaker 1 (54:12):
So do you view that's great? I mean, I just
I think that's so admirable and it's a great way
for people to go through life. You're a great example
of how it works. Do you have you changed over
a year and a half whatever you thought you're ceiling,
if there was one was for you in the NFL.
(54:34):
Has your idea of it changed?
Speaker 5 (54:36):
Yeah? Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (54:39):
Back when I started this process, I just wanted an
opportunity to go out there and kick, and you know,
looking at the minimum salary, I was thinking, well, shoot,
if I can do that for three years, then I
don't have to be a software engineer for seventeen Like
that's what the calculus was. Maybe I can retire seventeen
years earlier. So I think I've hit a point where
I'm going to get those three years, and you know,
(55:02):
that's the goal achieved. But obviously now we're looking at
it as a longer, longer term deal than that. So
everything from here is just is gravy for me.
Speaker 7 (55:12):
I know you're a person that stays locked in in
the moment, especially when you're on the field, But do
you have any goals this year for yourself?
Speaker 4 (55:20):
My goal is always to stay nine on field goals
and that's just about it. That's the only one I'll
set and everything else is out of my control.
Speaker 6 (55:30):
Everything will fall into place.
Speaker 4 (55:31):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (55:34):
Extra points is not.
Speaker 5 (55:37):
Well, but you want to be above that.
Speaker 1 (55:39):
Yeah, For extra points. Okay, I'm kind of surprised that
you are give yourself enough grace and not to think
you should make every kick you want to, But you did.
You hate you, So you've come to the realization that, Okay,
I'm gonna miss one at some.
Speaker 5 (55:57):
Point, absolutely, and that helps you from then. You know,
if you set.
Speaker 4 (56:01):
Goals and then you're unable to achieve them, you're gonna
have a moment where that sets in, and that might
drop your mentality a little bit, might start going a
little bit negative there. So I try and build in
a little bit of leeway so that doesn't happen. And
obviously it's already that moment would have already came and
went this.
Speaker 1 (56:18):
Year, so the self forgiveness process is pretty easy by
that point. Yeah, give this guy a big round of applause.
This is You're such a delight to talk to and
you're even more fun to watch.
Speaker 5 (56:29):
Thank you, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (56:30):
You bet. Brandon Aubrey the best kicker in the NFL,
and he's only getting started. Well the long kicks. The
long kicks are a pound of butter and h Nicole
and I will be back here next Monday night Side
car Social at the Star District in Frisco on the
Next Cowboy Hour.
Speaker 2 (56:51):
This has been a production of dallascowboys dot Com and
the Dallas Cowboys Football Club
Speaker 4 (57:00):
M
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