Matt Prater’s short-term Buffalo Bills gig turns into season-long role

Key Highlights

• “And so the decision against surgery was almost made up for him.
• So that’s the decision and that’s what we went with.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBass kicked in the Bills’ final preseason game at Tampa Bay and he made three of four field goals and two extra points and everything seemed fine.
• However, he reported pain shortly thereafter, so the Bills contacted Prater, an 18-year veteran who probably figured his NFL career was over after he suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 4 of 2024 while with the Arizona Cardinals. In a year where general manager Brandon Beane has come under fire for the quality of the roster he has put together, this addition has worked out. Prater’s 89.5% field goal success rate is ninth-best among the 27 kickers who have kicked in at least 10 games.
• He is 17 of 19 with the misses coming in Week 3, a bad one in the second quarter against Miami that went wide left from 39 yards, and then in Week 9 against the Chiefs he doinked one off the right upright from 52 yards with 3:46 left which failed to put the game away, though the Bills still hung on to win 28-21. Weirdly, he has missed more extra points than field goals; he’s 34 of 37 for a 91.9% success rate that ranks 24th among those 27 kickers.
• That includes whiffs in each of the last two games including in Houston, a critical point that prevented the Bills from attempting an overtime-forcing field goal in the final seconds of a 23-19 loss. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOn kickoffs, Prater has done a very good job.