ORCHARD PARK – The ongoing placekicker roulette that the Buffalo Bills have played this season took another spin Tuesday as they signed Matthew Wright to their practice squad.
Matt Prater reinjured his quad muscle during last Sunday’s victory over the Jets and his availability for Sunday’s AFC wildcard playoff game at Jacksonville is in question.
On Monday, coach Sean McDermott confirmed that, “Matt Prater suffered a little bit of an injury yesterday, as you guys saw it unfold during the game. He’s more day-to-day, which is a good sign, but we’re still going to more than likely bring some kickers in (Tuesday) for a workout. Kind of work with two plans, one where he’s able to go come Sunday and one where he’s perhaps not able to go.”
Bills kicker woes have been season long
The Bills have been scrambling at kicker all season. Tyler Bass suffered a pelvic injury in training camp and after appearing in one preseason game, he went on injured reserve where he has remained all season, ultimately undergoing surgery several weeks ago.
Prater was signed just before the season and has done a fine job filling in as he has made 18 of 20 field goals and 46 of 49 extra points. However, he originally hurt his quad muscle the week of the Cleveland game and missed the next two, so Michael Badgley was signed to the practice squad.
In those two games, Badgley missed two extra points including one against the Eagles that very likely cost the Bills a chance to win, a Week 17 loss that ultimately cost them the No. 5 seed and a wild-card trip to Pittsburgh to play a Steelers team that is inferior to Jacksonville.
Prater returned against New York but could not finish after making three extra points and kicking off three times, so that has led them to Wright as a contingency plan.
What to know about Matthew Wright
Wright has kicked in the NFL for eight different teams since entering the league in 2019, most recently for the Titans, Commanders and Texans this season and made all five field goals and four extra points that he attempted. For his career he has made 60 of 68 field goals.
In his last appearance on Nov. 16, Wright kicked a 35-yard field goal as time expired to give Houston a 16-13 victory over Tennessee. He was released days later when the Texans’ regular kicker, Ka’imi Fairbarn, returned from an injury.
Obviously, this is not ideal for the Bills, especially in a playoff game that is expected to be close and could hinge on kick because regardless of whether Wright or Prater, a 41-year-old with, at minimum, a sore leg, is the kicker, neither is a match for the Jaguars’ Cam Little who is a legitimate weapon and one of the best in the NFL.
In his first two seasons Little has made 57 of 63 field goal attempts (90.5%) and 77 of 78 extra points (98.7%). From 50 yards and beyond he is 28 of 31 and that includes the two longest kicks in NFL history, a 68-yarder on Nov. 2 indoors against the Raiders, and a 67-yarder outdoors at home against the Titans last week.
This year, Little has made 30 of 34 field goals including his last 20, and when he was asked about that last Sunday he said, “Don’t say it too loud, man! Let’s relax! No, but 20 in a row, we’re at a good spot. I think our unit is doing a really good job like they always do.”
At 22 years old, the 2024 sixth-round draft pick is the youngest kicker in league history to reach 50 career field goals, nearly a full year ahead of when Kansas City’s Harrison Butker did that early in his second season in 2018.
With Little’s howitzer of a leg, if you send a kickoff into the end zone for a touchback against the Jaguars and they start a drive at the 35, they’re no more than two first downs away from being in Little’s range which puts an enormous amount of pressure on the opposing defense if a game comes down to the wire.
“When you just talk special teams, obviously, their kicking game is elite,” McDermott said. “So that will affect things for us and what they’re able to do with their field goal kicking and kickoffs, and their punter is extremely talented as well. Their return game is really good.”
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 36 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills add kicker as uncertainty grows before playoffs
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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