Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones has been David Buehler’s greatest defender throughout this season, so perhaps it’s fitting that, after Buehler was placed on the injured reserve, ending his season earlier this week, Jones became one of the kickoff specialist’s more outspoken critics.
Jones discussed Buehler’s place on the team, and the groin injury that ended his season, in an appearance on 105.3 The Fan today.
"Let me just say this, I'm frustrated because you would expect players to, and I understand injuries, but he has known all along how to prepare and how to get into shape and how to prepare himself and be ready to be a kicker," Jones said, via the Dallas Morning News. "It's frustrating to have your kicker injured. He's a valuable asset, especially with the rules as they are right now. We're going to be playing some key away games out in the weather and we'd like to have him kicking in them because he is a better kickoff guy than Bailey. I'm very frustrated. It is his job to stay ready to play and prepare himself so that those kinds of things, for what he's got to do, don't come up.
"We seem to be snakebit because we've had a kicker hurt, we've had a punter hurt and we've had those kinds of injuries and you really don't expect it at those positions, but not from lack of contact, I'll put it like that."
Buehler, who missed four consecutive games with the injury earlier in the season, reportedly tore his adductor in practice earlier this week, leaving the right groin purple and swollen. Given that it would take five weeks for the injury to heal, the decision was made to send him to the IR.
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