ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – This past week, Buffalo Bills kicker Tyler Bass made only five of his 12 field-goal attempts from 40 yards or longer in practices and Saturday’s preseason finale.
He claimed afterward that everything is OK.
With the preseason now complete, Bass made only two field goals longer than extra-point distance in all three exhibition games, including his final try, a 51-yarder in the fourth quarter of a 31-26 loss to the Carolina Panthers at Highmark Stadium.
His boss was displeased.
“Those are ones he’s got to make. He knows that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “Looked like it faded a little bit to the right there. That’s a kick he’s going to practice a million times this week. That’s one we’ve got to have.”
Bass’ struggles go back to last postseason. After he missed a crucial kick that might’ve forced overtime against the Kansas City Chiefs, fans — and probably a few gamblers — descended upon social media like locusts, causing him to delete his accounts.
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The darkness led to a heartwarming, boomerang campaign that donated over $400,000 to the Ten Lives Club, a local cat adoption organization Bass champions.
Yet the Bills are in the Lombardi Trophy business. No matter how much of a feel-good story Bass has been off the field the past seven months, he must regain the consistency he seems to have lost somewhere along the line to earn his keep.
Bass stopped to chat with a couple reporters Saturday while walking toward the Highmark Stadium parking lot. He was completely chill while answering pointed questions about his inconsistencies. He expressed satisfaction in his preparation for 2024.
“I feel good. I’m excited. I’m grateful,” Bass said.
Bass has job security. Bills general manager Brandon Beane, in a pregame interview with WIVB Channel 4, indicated the kicker’s job is safe. Bass last year signed a four-year contract extension worth $20.4 million and $9.41 million in guarantees. If the Bills were to cut him, then they would absorb dead salary-cap hits of $4.32 million this season and $3.06 million next season.
Big dead-cap figures can adhere an overpaid player to a roster. Take edge rusher Von Miller, for instance. At least the Bills can put the 35-year-old in favorable down-and-distance matchups where he still might be able to make an impact.
There’s no such thing as a kicker rotation. The coach can’t deploy different kickers, depending on the situation. No teammate can line up somewhere to create a mismatch that helps the kicker beat the goal posts.
So while it would be uncomfortable for Beane to accommodate a Bass release, when kickers can’t make their field goals, they’ve got to go — cap hit be damned.
Tyler Bass’ consistency holds greater significance for a Bills team that has played in many close games under Sean McDermott. (David Dermer / AP Photo)
In the McDermott era, 21 percent of Buffalo’s games have been decided by three points or fewer, 32 percent the past two seasons. The Bills went 5-2 in such games while Stephen Hauschka still was their kicker, 10-9 since they drafted Bass in 2020.
Those records don’t necessarily reflect whether a kicker was the deciding factor, but those wins and losses reflect how close the margin is, how important field goals are, how pivotal to Buffalo’s success Bass’ consistency will be.
Bass has been shaky in practices the past couple of weeks. Bass said he approaches those kicks as he would in a game, but then seemed to contradict himself when asked about the significance of practice misses.
“Preseason’s a little more intentional,” Bass said, “but you try to treat practice the same way, to be honest with you. Treat them all the same.”
Then he minimized practice misses when asked about them specifically.
“Practice is practice, man,” Bass said. “You’re practicing. You’re there to work on things. You miss a couple; it is what it is. … If it’s a great day, great. If it’s not a good day, it’s a bad day, but I’m still taking something from that day to use. Some of my best games, I’ve had the worst warmups. The older you get, you just have to navigate like that.”
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Bass wasn’t tested by distance in preseason games, although he effectively coped with some ugly weather.
Only one of his attempts was longer than an extra point. He made field goals from 24 yards and 49 yards against the Bears in nasty Highmark Stadium winds. Thunderstorms shortened the Bills’ pregame warmup to a half hour last week in Pittsburgh. Then he made field goals from 27, 26 and 31 yards.
Bass made another 31-yarder in the first quarter Saturday. The Bills later scored their first preseason touchdown, allowing Bass an extra point toward the end of the first quarter. But a Panthers penalty led McDermott to erase the play and try a two-point conversion instead. The Bills also went for two after their second touchdown, and then had Bass tack the extra point on the third touchdown with 1:57 left in the game.
“I think it went well,” Bass said of his summer. “You just keep working on it and working on it until you feel you’ve mastered it and you’re ready for the season.
“Every kick, you treat it the same. So every kick you go out there, it’s the same process. We were fortunate enough to have seven (field-goal) opportunities, and I feel like we got good work.”
For many, Bass won’t regain the trust he earned with that contract extension until he makes big kicks in the regular season.
He has swayed from Bass-o-matic to Bass-dra-matic.
“It’s just about the adrenaline,” Bass said of ramping up from the preseason to the regular season, which opens Sept. 8 versus the Arizona Cardinals. “Adrenaline can be used in a positive way and really help you. So that’s the only thing you’ve got to kind of pull together and use it to your advantage, but that just comes with experience.”
Last year, Bass was flawless through five games. Then he missed three of his next four field-goal attempts, all wide right from 52, 53 and 42 yards. He missed an extra point in the Week 11 slaughter of the New York Jets, and, a week later in the wrenching overtime loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, he made only two of his four field goals; one was blocked, the other flipped wide right yet again.
He regathered in December and was perfect over the final five games of the regular season.
The playoffs, however, turned dreadful again. Bass made just two of his five attempts. Against the Steelers, he had a 49-yarder blocked and missed a 27-yarder wide left. In the three-point loss to the Chiefs, his 44-yard attempt went wide right with 1:43 to play.
Bass is only 27 years old. He has flourished in the gig before. As a rookie, he broke the Bills’ scoring record with 141 points and the next season posted 135 points, with Steve Christie (140 points in 1998) and O.J. Simpson (138 points in 1975, when the NFL season was 14 games) in between.
Since the Bills drafted Bass, he ranks third in NFL scoring behind only Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson and Baltimore Ravens legend Justin Tucker.
“I look at it like you’re only as good as your next kick,” Bass said. “So you’ve just got to get through the ball, feel confident going through it.”
The Bills better hope that restoration will prove as easy as it sounds.
(Top photo of Tyler Bass: Mark Konezny / USA Today)
