Oh boy: Bills worked out 2 Kickers

[Buffalo_Stampede]

41 minutes ago, Sweats said:

They had all offseason to worry about the kicker situation.......and yet, they're going to live and die with Bass.

 

#disgusting

Who is the replacement? Reliable kickers aren’t just sitting on the street. If we released Bass today he’d have another job in less than a month.

 

Bass still hits his extra points. He’s typically over 80%. It’ll be tough to find better without getting lucky or hitting on a rookie.

[Bookie Man]

Just start going for it every 4th down. 

[Sierra Foothills]

13 hours ago, Captain Hindsight said:

I’m just glad they are acknowledging that they need to have a plan

Giants lost a game this weekend because they didn’t have a plan at kicker

 

1 hour ago, The Cincinnati Kid said:

I think it is more about the Giants and their old friends losing a game because they weren’t prepared.

 

1 hour ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Reliable kickers aren’t just sitting on the street. If we released Bass today he’d have another job in less than a month.

 

Speaking of the Giants and available kickers, yesterday while the Bills were working these guys out the Giants signed veteran Greg Joseph off the Lions practice squad.

 

The 5-yr NFLer kicked for the Vikings the past 3 seasons and holds the NFL record for most game-winners in a season (5), led NFL in touchback % in 2021, and holds the Vikings record for longest FG (61 yds).

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/J/JoseGr00.htm

 

The Lions had Joseph as an insurance policy for big-legged UFL star Jake Bates who hasn't missed a kick yet.

 

 

Edited September 18 by Sierra Foothills

[LABILLBACKER]

1 hour ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Who is the replacement? Reliable kickers aren’t just sitting on the street. If we released Bass today he’d have another job in less than a month.

 

Bass still hits his extra points. He’s typically over 80%. It’ll be tough to find better without getting lucky or hitting on a rookie.

You can't keep a kicker with no confidence beyond 40.  We blew it by extending him and we ignored all the warning signs last year.

43 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

 

 

Speaking of the Giants and available kickers, yesterday while the Bills were working these guys out the Giants signed veteran Greg Joseph off the Lions practice squad.

 

The 5-yr NFLer kicked for the Vikings the past 3 seasons and holds the NFL record for most game-winners in a season (5), led NFL in touchback % in 2021, and holds the Vikings record for longest FG (61 yds).

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/J/JoseGr00.htm

 

The Lions had Joseph as an insurance policy for big-legged UFL star Jake Bates who hasn't missed a kick yet.

 

 

They had a plan...we didn't. 

[stosh64]

16 hours ago, colin said:

this makes me think bass has some kind of injury or something.

 

his play has been poor enough to have done this last year, but im guessing something more immediate/material is afoot.

 

sucks that dude isn't bassomatic anymore

 He is blatantly not the same player we drafted.  He had an attitude and swagger, that is long gone.  He looks unsure and nervous now.  Not good when talking about our kicker.

[frostbitmic]

Who needs a Kicker ?

 

I remember back in the day (old man speak) a college team that didn't have a Kicker. On kickoffs they did that by volunteer, they didn't bother with FGs and they always went for 2 after their many TDs.

 

Their QB signed with Buffalo during the strike (Willie Totten) and their WR ended up in the HOF (Jerry Rice)

 

Think out of the box Beane, follow the old Mississippi Valley State model. 😎

[NoHuddleKelly12]

Can't one of you guys take a swing at trying out too??? Surely in all of this forum there is a former high school kicking wunderkind out there amongst you? 

[Sweats]

 

 

.......this guy might be available.

[Logic]

12 hours ago, Punching Bag said:

 

Two kickers who were cut for poor performance?

• They are updating their databases.  They have brought many players in who have not made practice squad.
• Bass has physical issue whether remaining from cheap shot on field previous game last year or other sustained in practices/games.

If he was as bad as many claim on this board he would have been cur and replaced with a (cheap) UDFA.

I simply disagree.

Beane and McDermott went from totally backing up Bass and making zero moves to bring in kicker competition -- even when the roster was at 90 and having another leg in camp would've made all the sense in the world -- to working out two kickers a week after Bass had one of the worst shanks you'll ever see in live game action.

I don't agree that Bass has any physical issue, or that this was a field slippage issue. I think that Bass is currently suffering from something that many other kickers in NFL history have suffered through: Psychological issues. The yips. Kickers are good until they aren't. Once a kicker gets this kind of mental blockage or confidence hit or whatever you wanna call it, it can mean the end of their time as a consistent and reliable kicker in the league. 

I'm not saying Bass is definitely done. He's 11/12 on kicks this year, and the front office and coaches are clearly sticking by him for now. To say that he's not cause for concern or that the Bills working out kickers (when they had not previously done so) is a nothingburger is, in my estimation, off base. Time will tell.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

1 hour ago, LABILLBACKER said:

You can't keep a kicker with no confidence beyond 40.  We blew it by extending him and we ignored all the warning signs last year.

They had a plan...we didn't. 

They signed him before 2023 when he was considered one of the best kickers in the league. He was 12/14 beyond 40 the year before they signed him. He struggled in 2023. They kept him because of the contract.

 

There were absolutely no signs he was falling off before the contract.

 

Next year they will move on if 2023 continues this season. Week 2 wasn’t good. That miss was a big miss for confidence. His and the Bills.

 

 

[Captain Hindsight]

58 minutes ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

Can't one of you guys take a swing at trying out too??? Surely in all of this forum there is a former high school kicking wunderkind out there amongst you? 

I was the backup QB in high school, so when our long snapper got hurt, they asked me to try it. I threw it over the holders head on my first try and they never asked me to do it again 

[Mango]

18 hours ago, Billznut said:

Cade York who was just let go from the Commanders for being god awful and missing kicks in the opener. Lol. 
 

I’m glad they are giving Bass a little wake up call here with these kicker workouts, but I’m highly doubtful they will find anyone worthwhile on the kicker scrap heap. Hopefully Bass becomes a little less comfortable and starts kicking better. If so, mission accomplished. 

 

Kickers are fickle. So often they can go from great to trash overnight. I get McD tried to support his guy through the yips, but it is time to turn the scews. This kid has to sink or swim at this point. 

But agreed, I doubt they find a guy worth while right now. 

[Mango]

17 hours ago, DabillsDaBillsDaBills said:

Designated as a post 6/1 release this season (which he'd have to be) we save 100k against the cap by cutting Bass. We have a little over 4mm in cap space right now so that does leave us enough room to sign a kicker off the street. 

 

I'm not convinced York or Carlson are much better, but Bass has been an unacceptable 69% on FG over the last 17 games (regular and post combined). 

 

Can you cut somebody in September for a June 1 release the following year? I feel like I almost exclusively see it used between the season end and start of the new league year. 

 

[zow2]

4 hours ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Who is the replacement? Reliable kickers aren’t just sitting on the street. If we released Bass today he’d have another job in less than a month.

 

Bass still hits his extra points. He’s typically over 80%. It’ll be tough to find better without getting lucky or hitting on a rookie.

 

People don't seem to get this.  Bass would have another job within the week. If the Bills bring in a journeyman or some rookie and they perform up to our expectations...that would be more of a surprise than having the guy flame out worse than Bass.

 

On the flip side Bass is probably better suited for a dome team the way he kicks (in my opinion)....and may force the Bills hand if he misses a couple more makeable kicks.  

[Buffalo_Stampede]

10 minutes ago, Mango said:

 

Kickers are fickle. So often they can go from great to trash overnight. I get McD tried to support his guy through the yips, but it is time to turn the scews. This kid has to sink or swim at this point. 

But agreed, I doubt they find a guy worth while right now. 

What’s weird is they can go from trash to reliable also.

 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

6 minutes ago, zow2 said:

 

People don't seem to get this.  Bass would have another job within the week. If the Bills bring in a journeyman or some rookie and they perform up to our expectations...that would be more of a surprise than having the guy flame out worse than Bass.

 

On the flip side Bass is probably better suited for a dome team the way he kicks (in my opinion)....and may force the Bills hand if he misses a couple more makeable kicks.  

If I’m not mistaken he’s never missed a FG in a dome. But he’s missed a couple extra points.

 

 

[Sweats]

52 minutes ago, Logic said:

I simply disagree.

Beane and McDermott went from totally backing up Bass and making zero moves to bring in kicker competition -- even when the roster was at 90 and having another leg in camp would've made all the sense in the world -- to working out two kickers a week after Bass had one of the worst shanks you'll ever see in live game action.

I don't agree that Bass has any physical issue, or that this was a field slippage issue. I think that Bass is currently suffering from something that many other kickers in NFL history have suffered through: Psychological issues. The yips. Kickers are good until they aren't. Once a kicker gets this kind of mental blockage or confidence hit or whatever you wanna call it, it can mean the end of their time as a consistent and reliable kicker in the league. 

I'm not saying Bass is definitely done. He's 11/12 on kicks this year, and the front office and coaches are clearly sticking by him for now. To say that he's not cause for concern or that the Bills working out kickers (when they had not previously done so) is a nothingburger is, in my estimation, off base. Time will tell.

 

 

 

 

He's above average as of now, but just wait till a game is on the line and we need that FG to win it (i'm not counting the wide right against KC last year in the playoffs, as we don't know if the FG would even have won us the game.......13 seconds fiasco comes to mind).

The kicker has one job.....one job, that's it and if you can't rely 100% on him to do that job, then you look elsewhere and the fact that our FO didn't even consider looking at any other kickers in the off season (i'm assuming here) is disgusting.

 

If it were up to me, i would remove all kicking of any sort out of the game......punts, extra points, FG's, etc......outta here.

[NoHuddleKelly12]

4 hours ago, Captain Hindsight said:

I was the backup QB in high school, so when our long snapper got hurt, they asked me to try it. I threw it over the holders head on my first try and they never asked me to do it again 

So you’re saying there’s a chance! 😃

[billykay]

20 hours ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

Just saw the replay of Bass’ miss.

 

No tip.

No slip.

 

Just shank.

Agreed. It was a shank. People are just making excuses for him.

 

[Scott7975]

They aren’t going to find a kicker better than Bass at this point. They should have done something in the off season but my bet is it was a contract/cap space thing. I don’t see how any coach would be comfortable with a kicker that had issues and they can’t and don’t trust the guy beyond 50 yards. He even has problems inside 40 yards. It’s the same as the punter. He occasionally shanks what should be easy kicks.