Should the Bills trust that Tyler Bass will return to form?

[Florida Bills Fanatic]

He has as much hope in correcting his kicking as I do with correcting my golf swing.  In other terms, he's doomed.

[Alphadawg7]

34 minutes ago, Mark Vader said:

He's tough to figure out. With field goals he can struggle, with extra points he's one of the best in the league.

I want him to be the guy, and still hoping he is, but I’m just gonna remain cautiously optimistic.  

[GunnerBill]

I think going into the season they will and probably should. But they need a plan to cut the chord quickly if he struggles. They should spend the entire pre-season scouting kickers likely to be cut. 

[Billy Claude]

12 hours ago, Mark Vader said:

He's tough to figure out. With field goals he can struggle, with extra points he's one of the best in the league.

 

XP percentages are most likely not very statistically meaningful even over 4 years since one or two more missed XP would change the percentage from very good to average, this is demonstrated by Bass' XP percentage in the playoffs which at just under 90% is very bad.

 

They definitely should have some alternatives that they can go to quickly if issues continue in training camp or during the season.

 

 

Edited July 4 by Billy Claude

[Mark Vader]

5 hours ago, Billy Claude said:

 

XP percentages are most likely not very statistically meaningful even over 4 years since one or two more missed XP would change the percentage from very good to average, this is demonstrated by Bass' XP percentage in the playoffs which at just under 90% is very bad.

 

They definitely should have some alternatives that they can go to quickly if issues continue in training camp or during the season.

 

 

You can be as selective as you want.

 

205/210 career on XP's is pretty damn good.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Yes. Get him right. Almost every kicker goes through a rough period. 

[Billy Claude]

1 hour ago, Mark Vader said:

You can be as selective as you want.

 

205/210 career on XP's is pretty damn good.

 

OK, you're correct about his XP rate being good.  I was basing my statement on missing one or two XP to be at league average based on the 96% conversion rate last season but it was only  94.2% over the four seasons that Bass has been around.

 

Bass XP conversion rate hasn't been extraordinary in any particular season (#10 in 2020, #9 in 2021, #15 in 2022, #10 in 2023) but he has been very consistent.  He has the third highest XP conversion rate among active kickers behind Justin Tucker and Chase McLaughlin. 

 

[BullBuchanan]

Justin Tucker is the only kicker who's completely trustworthy. Bass is as good or better than 20+ kickers in the league. The difference between a percentage point is around 1 kick made or missed every 3 and half seasons. It's really not worth worrying about as fans. The difference between the  best kicker last year (Folk) and the 17th best (pinero) was 3 FG misses. Basically meaningless as a stat without context. Also worth mentioning Pinero has the 3rd highest FG percentage of all time. Is he garbage now?

The bigger problem is that McD has never trusted any of his kickers and it shows. You want these guys bang 60 yarders in warmups and then he punts when faced with a 50 yarder. That kind of move destroys a kicker's self-confidence, and it's a position where everyone is a headcase.

Edited July 5 by BullBuchanan

[ghostwriter]

Are there any kickers on the open market that are worth signing? I can’t say that I spend my spare time scouting kickers. Competition is fine though I guess, maybe Buffalo should look into drafting one next year?

[Freddie's Dead]

Tyler Bass has completed four seasons with the Bills, so calling him Bass-o-Matic is hardly premature.  He's won a number of games for us with his leg, and I think he will continue to do so.  Even in a subpar season in 2023, he won two games for us, the Chargers and Chefs, without which we don't even make the post-season.  He cost us the Eagles OT loss and had a really bad playoffs, culminating with the miss against KC.

 

I know I'm in the minority, but I still believe in this guy.  I'm not ready to cut him just yet.  I think there must have been something we don't know about, because he fell off a cliff in the playoffs.  That doesn't happen without some type of injury.  It's why McBeane didn't bring in any competition.  I'm sticking with Bass.

[QCity]

This is the first year of his new $20M+ contract and there simply is no way out this summer that makes financial sense. There won't be anyone brought in for competition for that reason alone. It's ride or die with Bass this year so refill your blood pressure medication.

[Chicken Boo]

Has a kicker ever regained their "form" once they've lost it?

[Mister Defense]

Well, of course they should not just trust that he will. 

 

Seems obvious.

 

They need to bring in sharp, real competition to both push him to a higher level, see if Bass could handle that pressure (or it could be a sign, in itself, that he may not be able to rebound, handle the pressure of game kicks either)--and to see what is out there, available.

[YattaOkasan]

On 7/3/2024 at 8:14 AM, BeastMaster said:

That would be a massive failure on the part of this team's staff if they didn't recognize this and moved to fix the issue

 

I personally think you're being overly pessimistic, but who really knows

No talk of contract on this QoD yet. Dude costs 3 mil + to cut this year. And that’s not considering his replacement. I think they sorta have to roll with him but if he sucks cut him mid season.
 

Would like to see browning be punter and kickoff as browning was holder the day Bass went 5/5 iirc. If browning is also kickoff (he did this in college at SDSU where he broke punt gods punt records and coverage is something punters have to do), then bass can just focus on placekicking and get back to form. 

Edited July 5 by YattaOkasan

[Chicken Boo]

On 7/4/2024 at 4:51 AM, GunnerBill said:

I think going into the season they will and probably should. But they need a plan to cut the chord quickly if he struggles. They should spend the entire pre-season scouting kickers likely to be cut. 

 

Common sense. 

 

It infuriates me how so many organizations in all facets of life fail to prepare for the worst.

 

It's lunacy.  

[YattaOkasan]

4 minutes ago, Chicken Boo said:

 

Common sense. 

 

It infuriates me how so many organizations in all facets of life fail to prepare for the worst.

 

It's lunacy.  

It costs 3 million just to try something else. If you’re upset about something focus on the contract. We sorta committed ourselves to him being the kicker when they offered the extension.  I don’t remember a ton of people being super grumpy at it either. At this point I don’t know that there’s a lot to be done. Know who to replace him if he’s super terrible it otherwise gotta roll the dice with him. 

[JakeFrommStateFarm]

If Bass misses another FG in the playoffs causing the Bills an early round exit then McDermott should be held responsible not bass.

 

McDermott will have made the decision to keep him on the roster and should be held accountable 

[LABILLBACKER]

15 hours ago, Victory Formation said:

Are there any kickers on the open market that are worth signing? I can’t say that I spend my spare time scouting kickers. Competition is fine though I guess, maybe Buffalo should look into drafting one next year?

The Bills should give Matt Coghlin ( UFL % leader) a shot. He made 94% of his kicks 16/17 with a long of 57.  Let him compete with Bass during camp.

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, JakeFrommStateFarm said:

If Bass misses another FG in the playoffs causing the Bills an early round exit then McDermott should be held responsible not bass.

 

McDermott will have made the decision to keep him on the roster and should be held accountable 

 

He will have had a say but that's a GM call.

[Augie]

3 hours ago, JakeFrommStateFarm said:

If Bass misses another FG in the playoffs causing the Bills an early round exit then McDermott should be held responsible not bass.

 

McDermott will have made the decision to keep him on the roster and should be held accountable 

 

So, how do you like this McDermott guy as a coach.  I’m starting to pick up some kind of vibe here, but it’s fuzzy.   

 

I’d hate to be the guy who is responsible for anything that goes wrong. Can we pin the stadium filling up with snow causing games to be moved on him too?   😋

 

A guy missing a kick or dropping a pass is not all on the HC, regardless of how we feel about him. The coach is the coach, but the players have to play, too.

 

.

Edited July 5 by Augie