BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Sometimes in sports, the best thing to have is a short memory. In hockey, it's the goalie. In baseball, it's the pitcher.
After missing his first attempt of the day, Bills kicker Tyler Bass went on to make six of his next seven attempts. He had every single point on the way to an 18-10 victory over the New York Jets on Sunday.
"It's not about how many you make, it's about what you do after you miss," Bass said after the win. "Anyone can handle stuff when things are easy, just about. When something goes wrong, it's just about, how do you handle that?"
It hasn't all gone right for Tyler Bass so far this year. Through seven games, he's made just 12 out of his 17 field goal attempts. Until Sunday, he hadn't made a single one that was 50 or more yards. Regardless, Bass feels better with each kick in a game.
"It just helps me gain more confidence and get more comfortable just being out there," Bass said. "It just starts with my teammates getting me into that position. But yeah, it's a good feeling."
Buffalo's offense gave him plenty of opportunities. Brian Daboll's unit stalled in the red zone all game long. But it led to both players and coaching staff being happy with Bass's performance.
"We have to find ways to finish in the end zone," quarterback Josh Allen said. "A couple penalties pushed us back and put us in a bad position, and shout out to T-Bass for making all those kicks and getting us the win."
"Coming up with three instead of seven, that's what keeps a team in the game," Bills head coach Sean McDermott said. "I thought special teams, Tyler Bass, I know he had a couple miscues, but at the end of the day he made some big-time kicks in some big-time moments in the game."
A return to form for the Bills' defensehelped give Bass a little wiggle room. But he changed something up against the Jets on Sunday: Bass had a single strip of eye black underneath his left eye.
"It's just something I do. It makes me feel like more than a kicker at times," Bass said. "It gives me a little swag, a little extra on game day, you know? So we don't have fans in the stadium, so you just have to find that little extra thing that gets you going."
It's been a motivating factor for him before, too. Bass's "mee-maw" originally convinced him to give football a try when he was a kid. So when he played in the 2019 Cure Bowl with Georgia Southern, he gave the singular eye black look a try.
"My last game of my college career, I had an M, and that was for my grandma. We were in the Cure Bowl, which was about breast cancer," Bass said. "So since then, I just use it and it kind of gives me a little confidence. Just something I do."
