This year has been one of the most uncertain years for kickers on the Buffalo Bills. We started the year with Tyler Bass as our kicker, but before training camp was even over, he was struggling with injuries that forced the Bills to look elsewhere. You might remember they had running back Ray Davis kicking during some of the preseason games. Then they signed a guy named Matt Prater who very few Bills fans had ever heard of before. He’s been a pretty solid option, though. His first week with the Bills he kicked a walk-off game winner against the Baltimore Ravens. However, as the season moves into the playoffs, there’s uncertainty again.
Prater has been struggling with injuries
It was right about the time we got comfortable with Prater and had some confidence in him that we found out he had been struggling with a quad injury. It kept him out for two of the last three games of the season. The Bills signed Michael Badgley who had two very shaky weeks against the Browns where he missed a PAT and another against the Eagles. Prater was able to come back for the final game against the Jets, but left part of the way through the game with fears of re-injuring that same quad.
Prater “feels confident” about playing this week
When asked how he felt about coming back to play against the Jaguars this weekend, Prater said that he felt pretty confident that he would be good enough to go and added that when he was warming up against the Jets he noticed it start to tighten up.
As games begin to get tougher in the playoffs, most teams expect less of a win margin which makes your kicking game very important. You need as many points as you can get and you need to feel confident in your kicker to get them everytime you send him out on the field.
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