It’s a short week so expect short content, but there were a few things from this game that stood out and I couldn’t pass up on my thoughts about Buffalo Bills kicker Tyler Bass. As this was originally written too early for the All-22 to be out, I’ll ask you to endure this just being narrative based.
If you’ve been following along with the Bills in recent years, you know that Bass missed the entire 2025 NFL season due to injury, and that he carried a reputation for having a bit of the yips prior to that.
Buffalo felt a healthy Bass was the right call and one week into the 2026 season, holy moly was he ever.
Let’s take a glance back at Bass’ return to see what might be in store for Week 2 against the Detroit Lions.
Kickin’ Bass
The Bills won by five points in a bit of a nail-biter over the Houston Texans. Any kind of miss by Tyler Bass would have loomed large, so let’s start off with the idea of him scoring points. Bass was asked to kick three extra points and, in my opinion, one of those was as close to a blemish as it gets for this kind of kicking. Squeaking inside the right upright, one of the extra points wasn’t picture perfect. That said, it still went in.
In the field goal game, Bass was called on three times as well. Bass’ first try was from 46, not a gimme but well within his range. His other two tries were from 34 and 33 yards. These should be chip shots for Bass. He made all three and none of them looked questionable from what I recall. That’s 12 points off of Bass’ foot.
The reason for this article though wasn’t the field goals and extra points. The NFL has been tinkering with the kickoff rules quite a bit in the last few years and the current mold rewards kickers who kick it just short of the end zone. Kicks can’t be downed unless they go into the end zone, so the closer to the razor’s edge of the end line, the better.
How did Tyler bass do in this regard. Here’s where his kickoffs landed in Week 1:
- Houston one-yard line
- Three-yard line
- The Houston ZERO. This is quite literally a perfect kick. It HAS to be returned from here
- Houston three
- Houston three
- Houston three
- Houston seven
- Houston three
The closest thing to a blemish was the second-to-last kick landing at the seven. Let’s see how Fairbairn did:
- Buffalo eight
- Buffalo one
- Touchback
- Buffalo five
- Buffalo five
- Buffalo one
NFL fans know Fairbairn’s name too, consistently being one of the best in the business. He had some amazing kicks himself Sunday (including another very long field goal against Buffalo), but Bass’ consistency was out of this world good.
For at least this fan, I’m hoping it’s not a fluke. I’ve always liked Tyler Bass’ swagger and we should all remember that he still holds the Bills’ single-season points record after unseating Steve Christie in his rookie year. Bass’ record is 141 points, one more than Christie’s.
Fan club membership aside, Bass being great only helps the Bills. Fingers crossed we see inside-the-five kicks Thursday evening, and all season.
