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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.