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Don’t envy Buffalo Bills special teams coordinator Heath Farwell this training camp.
When the 2020 preseason was cancelled due to safety concerns in regard to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, bubble players, undrafted rookies and everyone in between certainly had cause for concern. Those guys really need the exhibition snaps to show what they can do.
But some of those situations for say… a cornerback, can be simulated in practice. How about a kicker, though? There’s really nothing like a stadium setting, and Farwell is in charge of making the Bills’ tough kicking decisions this training camp.
At punter, it’s former kicker Kaare Vedvik coming for Corey Bojorquez and his job. At placekicker, rookie sixth-round pick Tyler Bass is hoping to upend Stephen Hauschka. Farwell, chatting on Sunday via video conference from Bills training camp, knows he has some hard choices to make, namely at kicker.
“There’s a big difference,” Farwell said, discussing Hauschka and Bass. “One is… a 13-year veteran with leadership ability, consistency, and a proven record to make them in games and make them in big games. The other kid is ultra talented. young leg, is hungry, he’s a big talent, but is unproven to this point without a preseason game.”
So, what can the Bills do? Well really, just the best they can… and hope for the best.
“We’ll try to put him in all those stressful situations… bringing them up at the end of practice, bring them up in the middle of practice, get everyone around them, put pressure on them if we can,” Farwell said. “Put them against each other, back-to-back kicks. A lot of the times we’ll give them the same exact kick and there’s a reason for it. Let’s see… kind of going back-and-forth… we do that with the punters, too. It’s like, how can we put them in those pressure situations? You see the guy in front of you make a good punt, or a good kick, and what can you do?”
Earlier this offseason, Bills general manager Brandon Beane discussed the kicking battle. In doing so, he mentioned some vfor them. Make a kick with your teammates watching? Shorter practice today, maybe no meetings, the GM suggested.
All are good ideas, but it’s still going to be difficult. It appears the Bills want a kicker with better leg strength. That’s what Bass has and what Hauschka has lacked, recently. While Hauschka is the record-holder for consecutive kicks made over 50 yards, he’s dropped off since earning that in 2017. In 2019, Hauschka was 1-for-5 from beyond 50 yards.
Unfortunately for Hauschka, what seems to have changed came via an injury.
In December 2018, Hauschka caught a blindside hit from Jets defender Henry Anderson. He was fined and Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott had a candid moment in response to what happened, claiming there’s “no place in football” for such incidents.
Hauschka has struggled since taking that hit. But the veteran offers consistency in closer kicks. He made four from inside 50 during Buffalo’s playoff loss to the Texans.
Earlier this offseason, Farwell did say it was Hauschka’s job and Bass has to earn it. At this point, with no preseason games, we might not have any hint of which way the Bills are going to go with their pick, but regardless, if it’s not the right one, it’s going to be a criticized decision.
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