By Tim Graham
An item at Pro Football Talk and a tweet from WGR morning host Howard Simon reminded me the Buffalo Bills have two kickers who aren't doing much these days.
The Pro Football Talk item was about high-school kid Austin Rehkow, who kicked a 67-yard field goal in Washington. (Side note: Former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien's nephew, Brett Rypien, threw for 577 yards in the game, so just in case Central Valley can't light up an opponent that way, it can crush field goals from the 50.)
Rehkow's jaw-dropper came four days after Bills coach Chan Gailey decided 53 yards -- indoors, no less -- was too far to let placekicker Rian Lindell try to possibly beat the Arizona Cardinals in overtime.
Lindell has kicked only three field goals this season, second-fewest in the NFL aside from injury replacements.
Simon (@hsimon62) pointed out this morning that kickoff specialist John Potter hasn't been tallying touchbacks as everyone expected.
Potter has 12 touchbacks, tied for 19th in the NFL. He has recorded a touchback on 54.2 percent of his tries (not counting onside kicks), tied for 13th.
Potter has sent 84.6 percent of his kickoffs into the end zone, 14th in the NFL and below the league average of 87.6 percent.
"I want him to have those touchbacks," Bills coach Chan Gailey said Monday, referring to Potter's performance in Arizona. "That's why we hired him, to kick the ball deep. He's kicking high. We got one of them down there around the 16- or 17-yard line, but they brought the other one out. We need more consistency from him."
The opponent's average starting field position when Potter kicks off is the 20.6-yard line, 11th in the NFL.
