Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys have an urgent problem at kicker: They don’t have one

Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy plans to remain patient with his unproven and inconsistent kickers. But he admits that it will only last so long.

Both veteran Lirim Hajrullahu and undrafted rookie Jonathan Garibay have struggled since the start of training camp and both had horrible days with the wind and poor snaps on Tuesday.

“These two are competing for a job,” McCarthy said. “At some point they got to start getting comfortable and making kicks more consistently. That is just stating the facts. At the end of the day, the rope is here. Someone has to grab it.”

Hajrullahu was 3-of-8 with four straight misses from 43, 48, 48 and 52 yards during the special teams work on Tuesday. Garibay went 6-of-8 with misses in two of his final three tries from 48 and 52 yards.

And when the team worked on end-game situations, it was even worse. Hajrullahu was 1-of-3 on potential long game-winning attempts. Garibay went 0-of-3.

The situation was similar on Monday as Hajrualluha and Garibay each missed both of their attempts in late-game winning situations during a period McCarthy calls “Mojo Moments.”

Owner Jerry Jones expressed patience and desire for them to try shorter kicks.

“I was kidding somebody, I just want to see them make extra points and kicks from the 20 and the 30,” he said. “We’ll worry about that farout stuff later, I just don’t want to head into the year missing extra points and short field goals.”

Of course, Jones’ job is not on the line.

McCarthy’s Cowboys lost three games last season by three points or fewer. Each of those losses saw Dallas miss at least one kick.

It’s the reason Greg Zuerlein, who also missed six extra points, was not re-signed.

The Cowboys hoped for better luck by developing and investing in Garibay, the former Texas Tech star who made a 62-yard game-winning field goal against Iowa State last season.

In his college career, he made 23 of 27 field-goal attempts and 55 of 57 extra-point kicks, giving the Cowboys hope for the present and the future.

Hajrullahu was brought in as veteran insurance.

Neither has been inspiring so far in camp.

“It’s not what they were looking for,” McCarthy said. “I think the thing that I walked away from practice [with] is we need to do more of it. Frankly, we’re going to kick every day this week. We’ve got to make sure we get both of those guys more opportunities.”