Bass struggling at minicamp (and now at training camp)

[LABILLBACKER]

Let's see what happens this season. You can't deny his career 84% is mediocre and would rank around 22nd in the NFL. His career deep kicks (50+) are at 63% which is also mediocre. But the most glaring problem would be his career playoff 70%.  If you kicked 70% during the regular season, you probably be out of the league or ranking around 30-32.  These are career numbers for a guy who just got a very generous extension.  I don't want him to be a scapegoat.  I want him to succeed,  but he's gotta prove he can make clutch kicks. 

[klos63]

18 hours ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

If Tyler Bass went 6-7, long of 51 and a miss from 58 in a game, he’d be AFC SPT Player of the Week 

If he missed a super bowl winning kick, the fans would cheer and make excuses for him missing.

[sullim4]

22 hours ago, MJS said:

I agree. However, we need to see how he is kicking in actual games. Kicking is all mental, so he has to prove that he is capable when the bullets are flying.

 

Well... kicking is also highly dependent on conditions, but from everything I've seen thus far, I agree that Bass' issue is his head.

 

Unfortunately, I don't know what they can do to fix it at this point in the year.  Football fans like to make fun of this position, but placekicker is the position that is going to make or break you in close games.  This is why coaches like Belichick place such an emphasis on it and why I have no issue taking a kicker in the early rounds of the draft.

 

Frankly - we have not had great kickers since Steve Christie left.  I'd argue Lindell was probably the best followed by Dan Carpenter.  But even then did you feel super confident that either one of those two were going to make a critical kick?  Do we not remember the "DIE LINDELL DIE" avatars from a few years ago?

[TheyCallMeAndy]

3 hours ago, klos63 said:

If he missed a super bowl winning kick, the fans would cheer and make excuses for him missing.

Who’s making excuses?

[Ya Digg?]

5 hours ago, Einstein said:

 

Context matters. If that 58 yarder was a game-winner that he missed .. then he isn’t winning the award. And he would be rightfully panned on this forum.

 

Remember when the Eagles kicker hit that 60 yarder against us, in the rain, to force OT and the eventual win? 

 

I do.

 

Kickers need to be able to hit those. But the last time we saw bass, he badly shanked the game-tying FG against KC and sent us packing from the playoffs. Next time he had an opportunity to make a practice-winning field goal, he sent it so far left that i’m not sure the goal posts even knew a kick was happening.

 

That is not encouraging news.

 

So fans can gloat about the three or four he made from shorter distances when it didn’t matter. But until he starts making them when it does matter, with the game or practice on the line, there will be justifiable question marks.

Is this even a thing?!?! 
 

so the kicks he makes during practice don’t matter at all, but the ones me he misses from almost 60 yards counts almost as much as the one from the playoffs? Am I understanding your bias correctly?

[njbuff]

Hopefully Bass doesn’t have a game like Norwood did in 91 against the Raiders. 
 

Look it up.

 

You know Marv and his teammates wanted to kill him.

[GoBills808]

12 minutes ago, Ya Digg? said:

Is this even a thing?!?! 
 

so the kicks he makes during practice don’t matter at all, but the ones me he misses from almost 60 yards counts almost as much as the one from the playoffs? Am I understanding your bias correctly?

It's the unfortunate reality of being a kicker...your misses are always more memorable than your makes

 

Part of the job description 

[PonyBoy]

4 hours ago, klos63 said:

If he missed a super bowl winning kick, the fans would cheer and make excuses for him missing.

 

I disagree.

That was a long time ago, only 25th SB, USA was at war with Iraq, pre 9/11, pre Internet & more. Very emotional time.

 

A lot of infamy for Buffalo sports teams since 1991. 

Imagine if TBD was around back then? I don't think it would be near the love fest we witnessed & remembered.

 

Let's hope it doesn't come down to our kicker to win our 1st. If it does, may he make it right down the middle 🤞.

 

[Mark Vader]

5 hours ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

Brownie said the other day that he was 6 for 6, and that they would have been good from 60+.  The Bass-o-Matic hate is strong at TBD.

Everybody blames Bass for the playoff loss to the Chiefs. It's the last thing they remember.

Bills fans have selective memory loss.

[klos63]

44 minutes ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

Who’s making excuses?

Nobody yet,  he hasn't missed a super bowl kick. 

[Billy Claude]

39 minutes ago, Mark Vader said:

Everybody blames Bass for the playoff loss to the Chiefs. It's the last thing they remember.

Bills fans have selective memory loss.

 

It's not just that.  He was 40% in the playoffs last year and basically kept the Steelers in the game.

[Mark Vader]

5 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Let's see what happens this season. You can't deny his career 84% is mediocre and would rank around 22nd in the NFL. His career deep kicks (50+) are at 63% which is also mediocre. But the most glaring problem would be his career playoff 70%.  If you kicked 70% during the regular season, you probably be out of the league or ranking around 30-32.  These are career numbers for a guy who just got a very generous extension.  I don't want him to be a scapegoat.  I want him to succeed,  but he's gotta prove he can make clutch kicks. 

You also can't deny his career XP accuracy, 205/210.

[LABILLBACKER]

32 minutes ago, Mark Vader said:

You also can't deny his career XP accuracy, 205/210.

This is true. His career XP% is 97.6 which is excellent.  But his career playoff XP% drops to a mediocre 89.7%.  Again during clutch playoff moments his numbers drop?  

[buffblue]

5 hours ago, sullim4 said:

 

Well... kicking is also highly dependent on conditions, but from everything I've seen thus far, I agree that Bass' issue is his head.

 

Unfortunately, I don't know what they can do to fix it at this point in the year.  Football fans like to make fun of this position, but placekicker is the position that is going to make or break you in close games.  This is why coaches like Belichick place such an emphasis on it and why I have no issue taking a kicker in the early rounds of the draft.

 

Frankly - we have not had great kickers since Steve Christie left.  I'd argue Lindell was probably the best followed by Dan Carpenter.  But even then did you feel super confident that either one of those two were going to make a critical kick?  Do we not remember the "DIE LINDELL DIE" avatars from a few years ago?

Did Steven Hauschka get erased from our history books?

6 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Let's see what happens this season. You can't deny his career 84% is mediocre and would rank around 22nd in the NFL. His career deep kicks (50+) are at 63% which is also mediocre. But the most glaring problem would be his career playoff 70%.  If you kicked 70% during the regular season, you probably be out of the league or ranking around 30-32.  These are career numbers for a guy who just got a very generous extension.  I don't want him to be a scapegoat.  I want him to succeed,  but he's gotta prove he can make clutch kicks. 

This

[Mark Vader]

2 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

This is true. His career XP% is 97.6 which is excellent.  But his career playoff XP% drops to a mediocre 89.7%.  Again during clutch playoff moments his numbers drop?  

Weird

[FloridaSnow]

What’s really frustrating about this is that we had Dustin Hopkins here and let him get away.

[Einstein]

4 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

It's the unfortunate reality of being a kicker...your misses are always more memorable than your makes

 

Part of the job description 

 

Well said. To add to it, not all kicks are equal. 

 

A 34 yard kick in a blow-out does not matter to the same extent as a game-winning attempt. To that point:

 

In the last 2 minutes of a half, Bass was only 70% last season. And he was 78% the year before. And 71% in his rookie season. With this in mind, how much should we caee that he is nearly 90% when the kick isn’t as important (not the final 2 minutes)?

 

The truth is that he has never been a consistent clutch kicker. Ever.

 

And for his career, he misses 1 of every 4 kicks he attempts when we are trailing. 

 

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

8 minutes ago, FloridaSnow said:

What’s really frustrating about this is that we had Dustin Hopkins here and let him get away.

 

A long time ago, but don't forget Anderson.  That's probably the biggest blunder, but can understand how it happens.

 

Bass certainly struggled last year and was up and down a couple times,  but more down the up.  Actually I blame it all on Jim Nantz.  Bass started the year off 9 of 9, Nantz announced that as he went for his 10th kick, missed it and was down hill from there. 

 

Prior to last year though he was very good and everyone here was praising him and talking about how lucky we were to have him.

[GoBills808]

1 hour ago, FloridaSnow said:

What’s really frustrating about this is that we had Dustin Hopkins here and let him get away.

Heck Chiefs got Butker on waivers from Panthers iirc

[Draconator]

A bunch of you would light this every time Bass lines up for a kick