JGMcD2 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 [Edit to add link - I believe the OP is referencing this Tim Graham article from The Athletic. OP, please correct if I'm mistaken https://theathletic.com/1504304/2020/01/02/bills-secret-weapon-in-reaching-the-postseason-a-historic-field-goal-defense/] All across the NFL this year, it felt like kickers were putrid. At one point we even had (maybe still have) some issues with our own Stephen Hauschka. It felt like every game I watched, kicks were being missed left and right, especially in our games. I really didn’t realize the magnitude of it! Here are some excerpts from The Athletic detailing how good we were in this department. I understand many will dismiss it as all luck (yes, it takes some lick) but if the Patriots can get a pat on he back for their punt blocking prowess, why can’t we get some love in this department. “Bills opponents made 61.5 percent of their field-goal attempts and 84 percent of their extra-point attempts, both lowest in the NFL. That parlay hadn’t occurred since the league grew from 28 teams in 1995.” “Across the NFL this year, kickers converted 81.6 percent of their field-goal tries. (For the record, Stephen Hauschka made 78.6 percent. Fairbairn came in at 80 percent.)” ”The Bills’ 20.1-point differential relative to the league average is the greatest disparity since 2001. In that season, NFL kickers connected on 76.3 percent of field goals, but Pittsburgh Steelers opponents made a bewildering 45 percent.“ “The Bills won by a combined margin of 55 points. They watched 34 possible points against them fail to pass between the goal posts.“ Some really interesting stuff... especially consider how much this coaching staff seems to emphasize special teams. I personally believe that Heath Farwell has done a pretty good job this year across the board. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Turk Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Is there such a thing as being good at getting kickers to miss or is it just dumb luck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franco_92 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 The pats comparison is bad, as their coaching techniques and special teams players' skills are what cause them to block punts. Similar to the excellent Bills special teams of the 90s, led by Tasker. Whereas we've only blocked ONE of those misses, if I remember correctly. The rest are just kickers themselves missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 They wear these now... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemma Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Cannot dispute, but it is kind of an odd stat and makes me wonder 'why are they missing'? Somehow getting into the kickers' heads? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProcessYaDigg Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 (edited) Our special teams defense has nothing to do with kickers missing against us. We can only get credited if kicks were blocked. For these stats, it lies solely on the kickers who are just simply missing. We've just been on the fortunate end of kickers missing, i.e. the Titans missing 4 against us. Other than that, these numbers are pointless. Edited January 3, 2020 by Circlethewagon8404 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hebert19 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Net net. Force FGs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGMcD2 Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 8 minutes ago, arcane said: The pats comparison is bad, as their coaching techniques and special teams players' skills are what cause them to block punts. Similar to the excellent Bills special teams of the 90s, led by Tasker. Whereas we've only blocked ONE of those misses, if I remember correctly. The rest are just kickers themselves missing. The article goes into further detail on how we scheme and practice to put pressure on kickers. Just because they’re not physically blocking the kick doesn’t mean they don’t have an impact on the missed kicked... not much different than a QB feeling pressure from a DE and throwing it away making a risky throw. Although that is what Jerry Hughes’ does and people dismiss that as well... so probably another bad comparison ? We have 2/17 blocked kicks in the NFL this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hebert19 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 And ps. Kicking in buffalo is hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miyagi-Do Karate Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 8 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said: They wear these now... the timeless Noonan strategy. Works every time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StHustle Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 3 minutes ago, JGMcD2 said: The article goes into further detail on how we scheme and practice to put pressure on kickers. Just because they’re not physically blocking the kick doesn’t mean they don’t have an impact on the missed kicked Gotta consider the elements in New Era field as a factor. I dont think pressure on a kicker would effect anything. I believe kickers ignore pressure and the kick is blocked or not. Kickers arent looking at oncoming rushers like a punter may. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGMcD2 Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 Just now, StHustle said: Gotta consider the elements in New Era field as a factor. I dont think pressure on a kicker would effect anything. I believe kickers ignore pressure and the kick is blocked or not. Kickers arent looking at oncoming rushers like a punter may. They touch on how it’s happened basically everywhere against us. In a dome, in warm weather and more frequently on the road than at New Era Field. There are 8 separate games this season where there has been a missed FG and/or XP against us. Maybe a coincidence but can’t be completely dismissed. That’s half of the season... 21 minutes ago, arcane said: The pats comparison is bad, as their coaching techniques and special teams players' skills are what cause them to block punts. Similar to the excellent Bills special teams of the 90s, led by Tasker. Whereas we've only blocked ONE of those misses, if I remember correctly. The rest are just kickers themselves missing. “There’s technique we practice,” Lotulelei said, “and from there, it’s the attitude that you go into it with. We have desire to block field goals.” “If you have just a little missed execution from the snapper to the holder or the holder to the kicker — and kickers are very anal even about the laces being off — you end up getting in their head, and it carries throughout the game.” - Lorenzo Alexander 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franco_92 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 1 minute ago, JGMcD2 said: They touch on how it’s happened basically everywhere against us. In a dome, in warm weather and more frequently on the road than at New Era Field. There are 8 separate games this season where there has been a missed FG and/or XP against us. Maybe a coincidence but can’t be completely dismissed. That’s half of the season... That sample size is incredibly tiny and fully susceptible to variations in line with this phenomenon. We can't bank on anything like this again next year. Not reproducible. Should be taken into account when considering how much our offense needs to improve this offseason, quite frankly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StHustle Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 4 minutes ago, JGMcD2 said: They touch on how it’s happened basically everywhere against us. In a dome, in warm weather and more frequently on the road than at New Era Field. There are 8 separate games this season where there has been a missed FG and/or XP against us. Maybe a coincidence but can’t be completely dismissed. That’s half of the season... I think it is coincidence. Largely good luck. Could be looked at as the reason why we won so many games if it werent for our own kicker being in the bottom 10. We jhave won and loss games due to kicking this year. None of it matters now though. Boils down to how kick/they kick in the postseason. I really feel us putting in a waiver claim for Chase McLaughlin lit the fire under Hauschka that was needed. Seems back to his old self. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 1 hour ago, JGMcD2 said: [Edit to add link - I believe the OP is referencing this Tim Graham article from The Athletic. OP, please correct if I'm mistaken https://theathletic.com/1504304/2020/01/02/bills-secret-weapon-in-reaching-the-postseason-a-historic-field-goal-defense/] All across the NFL this year, it felt like kickers were putrid. At one point we even had (maybe still have) some issues with our own Stephen Hauschka. It felt like every game I watched, kicks were being missed left and right, especially in our games. I really didn’t realize the magnitude of it! Here are some excerpts from The Athletic detailing how good we were in this department. I understand many will dismiss it as all luck (yes, it takes some lick) but if the Patriots can get a pat on he back for their punt blocking prowess, why can’t we get some love in this department. “Bills opponents made 61.5 percent of their field-goal attempts and 84 percent of their extra-point attempts, both lowest in the NFL. That parlay hadn’t occurred since the league grew from 28 teams in 1995.” “Across the NFL this year, kickers converted 81.6 percent of their field-goal tries. (For the record, Stephen Hauschka made 78.6 percent. Fairbairn came in at 80 percent.)” ”The Bills’ 20.1-point differential relative to the league average is the greatest disparity since 2001. In that season, NFL kickers connected on 76.3 percent of field goals, but Pittsburgh Steelers opponents made a bewildering 45 percent.“ “The Bills won by a combined margin of 55 points. They watched 34 possible points against them fail to pass between the goal posts.“ Some really interesting stuff... especially consider how much this coaching staff seems to emphasize special teams. I personally believe that Heath Farwell has done a pretty good job this year across the board. So Wait, they're saying that perhaps when a kicker misses multiple FG against us it's not all just Dumb Luck? Maybe we MAKE our luck? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasons1992 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 2 hours ago, Mr. WEO said: They wear these now... I literally say this EVERY SINGLE FG AGAINST US. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jobot Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 I feel like half of the misses were against Jets kickers... It would be interesting if there were a way to track speed of pass rush or something else to correlate with missed kicks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffBillsForLife Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 I'm sure it's possible to measure if you can hurry a FG or something and have it affect the play (i.e., make the kicker miss) but not straight up block it. Maybe the Bills are good at that, I have no idea. But as it stands right now it seems more like a ridiculously lucky streak than anything, not that I'm complaining about balls going our way for once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IgotBILLStopay Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 it is a bit of everything. Luck, Quality of the opposing kicker, Weather (Bills do play in awful weather a lot) etc. Cant have a 20% differential across 13 opponents just because of one reason. There is no doubt we were lucky with missed kicks to win game 1 vs the Jets and the game against the Titans despite our putrid offense. Of course as the opposing kickers improved, so did our offense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 some is luck, some is how we rush them, and more if it is good d forcing teams to make harder kicks (in terms of being further given the conditions and more mental pressure from not getting closer) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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