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State of the Roster: Bills Specialists

Moorman inconsistent in '07 (BuffaloBills.com)

Welcome to the most boring, mundanely consistent part of the Buffalo Bills' roster - the kicker and the punter. Both have been with the Bills for several years and are currently playing under long-term deals. Both will likely finish out their careers as members of this franchise. When you want to look for stability, look no further than Rian Lindell and Brian Moorman.

So, as a wrap to our "State of the Roster" series, let's talk about the only two roster members we haven't yet covered...

Rian Lindell
2007 was, in this blogger's humble opinion, Lindell's best season of his career. Lindell canned 24 of 27 field goal attempts (89%), and although two of those misses (in 1-point losses to Denver and Dallas) were devastating, he made up for them with game-winning kicks against the Dolphins and Redskins. He nailed all 24 of his extra point tries, and he was even much more consistent than usual on kickoffs. 2008 will be a big year for Lindell - with the Bills expecting to make a run at the playoffs, he'll need to eliminate the few costly misses he's had to endure and maintain the consistency, because with the Bills playing the style of football that they do, a lot of games will be won and lost on the right leg of Lindell.

Brian Moorman
One of Buffalo's best players over the last half-dozen seasons, Moorman started to show signs of slight decline in his play in 2007. Even though he nearly duplicated his 2006 career high of punts downed inside the 20 (33 in '06, 30 in '07), Moorman has seen his overall punt average decline in each of the last two seasons (from 45.7 to 43.6 to 40.8 in '07). He is still one of the Bills' most resourceful players (no punter is adept at running a fake punt than Moorman), and he's certainly a leader on the team. But given the conservative nature of Buffalo's team, Moorman's inconsistency hurt the Bills at times last season. With the offense promising to change its ways, there might be less pressure on Moorman in '08; if the offense doesn't produce quickly enough, the team will need Moorman to revert to his old self and punt the ball much more consistently.

Off-Season Outlook
Let's face it, folks - nothing is changing here. Both of these players have long-term, lucrative contracts, and both are consistent enough to keep around long-term. Though each has some shortcomings that they'll need to work through, there are few kicking/punting duos in the league as veteran and as talented as Lindell and Moorman. The Bills are set at these positions for years to come.

Possible additions: none.
Possible subtractions: none.

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the Importance of a good kicker
I've often felt that the most under-appreciated player on a football team is the kicker. When Tom Donahoe made the statement, that you can always find a kicker, it made me pull my hair out. A kicker is not only your leading scorer, but has to be your most clutch player as well. With the game on the line late who is it that comes in to try and win it? the kicker.

 I was skeptical about Lindell when he was first signed, but I must admit that he has done a good job over the last few years, and he deserves more credit then he gets for being a quality kicker in the NFL.

Who would have thought I'd miss Pete Metzelaars?

by sireric on Jan 25, 2008 9:21 AM EST   0 recs

LOL
Do you have any hair left after the Donahoe era?
Create a free account to join in the discussion, Bills fans!

by Brian Galliford on Jan 25, 2008 9:31 AM EST to parent up   0 recs

I went bald for a while
but once Marv was hired, I joined the hair club for men, and I now have a full head of hair again, thanks to Marv.
Who would have thought I'd miss Pete Metzelaars?

by sireric on Jan 25, 2008 10:13 AM EST to parent up   0 recs

Snapper
What about the state of the snapper?  Ryan Neil did ok, but he did make a couple of mistakes in the cold that Schneck had not.  On the other hand, Neil actually showed some abilities in the DL (in today's world of injuries, the LS probably needs to play another position as back up).  My question is whether he (aside from the obvious mistakes) affected Moorman negatively in any way (slower or less accurate delivery).  I think they measure the delivery speed of LSs to their punters -- I wonder if Moorman had less time.

by labill on Jan 25, 2008 11:19 AM EST   0 recs

It's very possible
I do think it probably effected Moorman some, but not enough to say it was the cause of his losing 3 yards on his punt average.

For the record, I purposely left the long snapper position off of this discussion because I've got it woven into another discussion planned for tomorrow morning. :)

Create a free account to join in the discussion, Bills fans!

by Brian Galliford on Jan 25, 2008 11:43 AM EST to parent up   0 recs

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