Tom Brady might have had some luck on his side Monday night. His Buccaneers were dominated by the Cowboys and eliminated from the playoffs, and yet the story of the night was Dallas kicker Brett Maher.Maher mi sed not one, not two, not three, but four extra-point attempts before finally drilling his fifth and final attempt in Dallas' 31-14 victory.Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy had a chance to send Maher out for a field-goal attempt on fourth-and-4 in the second half, but the veteran was brought back off the field as Dallas Joe Sakic Men Jersey opted to go for it (Dak Prescott would find CeeDee Lamb for a touchdown on the play).McCarthy wouldn't trust Maher to extend what was already a commanding lead, but the 33-year-old remains on the roster thanks to his impre sive regular season.MORE:How could Maher go from drilling Philipp Grubauer Jersey long-range field goals to mi sing badly on extra point tries? Here's what you need to know about what might have happened. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, the yips are "a state of nervous tension affecting an athlete (such as a golfer) in the performance of a crucial action."The yips are common among not just kickers but also pitchers in baseball and golfers. But it's not scientific.The yips could be an explanation for an unexplainable collapse such as Jordan Spieth's 12th-hole meltdown in the 2016 Masters Tournament. Former MLB pitcher Rick Ankiel admitted he dealt with such a severe case of the yips that he gave up pitching and became an outfielder.Among kickers, recent examples might include Daniel Carlson, who was released by the Vikings in 2018 after mi sing three Nazem Kadri Jersey field-goal kicks against the Packers. Carlson said it was a "confidence" i sue. He has since gone on to become one of the NFL's most accurate kickers with the Raiders.MORE: Maher hasn't indicated he's dealing with any kind of injury, so the yips might be the only way to explain mi sing four PAT kicks in a game. Maher mi sed only three field-goal attempts all season and was 9 of 11 on attempts from 50-plus yards. How, then, could he mi s four consecutive tries from 33 yards in a game and five in a row dating to Colin Wilson Jersey Week 18? The first mi s in the playoffs might have been a blow to Maher's confidence, thus causing the yips.On a larger scale, the yips are part of why coach try to "ice" a kicker before a crucial field-goal attempt. In that scenario, a coach is simply giving the kicker more time to think about (or overthink) the magnitude of the moment.The moment is only getting bigger for Maher, as the Cowboys will face the 49ers on Sunday in search of their first NFC championship game appearance since 1995.McCarthy said this week that Dallas is "going to forge ahead" with Maher, althoughthe Cowboys did add Tristan Vizcaino to their practice squad as insurance on Wednesday.MORE: YearTeamFGM/FGAFG%XPM/XPAXP%2018Cowboys29/3680.632/3397.02019Cowboys20/3066.736/36100.02021Saints16/1888.910/1283.32022Cowboys29/3290.650/5394.3Total94/11681.0128/13495.5This is Maher's second stint with the Cowboys after he was cut late in the 2019 season.Maher has rewarded Dallas for giving him a second chance. He turned in the best season of his career in 2022. He made more than 90 percent of field-goal attempts for the first time in his career, and he went 9 for 11 from 50-plus yards.Despite playing only four seasons in the NFL, Maher has the most field goals from 60-plus yards in league Matt Calvert Jersey history. That makes his extra-point struggles even more confusing and points to the yips as a likely cause.