NFL
Lindell perfect as Bills fail
by MATT KRUEGER Reporter

Buffalo kicker Rian Lindell was a perfect 5-for-5 in field goals Sunday, but it wasn’t enough to propel the Bills past the Tennessee Titans. Photo by Patrick McPartland

Kicker Rian Lindell had delivered as reliably as Santa Claus Sunday, but the sure-footed kicker still thought he might not have made a game-winning, 45-yard field goal into strong winds in crunch time.

After booting field goals of 21, 36, 45, 21 and 24 yards, Lindell tied his career best with five in one game. But that potential sixth try would have taken a Christmas miracle.

Trailing the Tennessee Titans, 30-29, with 57 seconds remaining, the Bills faced a fourth-and-5 situation on the Tennessee 28-yard line. Coach Dick Jauron had two choices. Option A was have Lindell try the game-winning field goal into gusting wind from outside the kicker’s comfort zone. Jauron went with option B, have quarterback J.P. Losman try to pull out some more fourth-quarter magic, like he had done in previous weeks.

Losman pulled no rabbit out of his hat. Instead he tossed up a desperation heave to the Tennessee 2-yard line that fell into the waiting hands of Tennessee’s Reynaldo Hill. Game and season over.

Kicking into the gusting, swirling wind, Lindell would have had to best Tennessee’s Rob Bironas, who booted a 42-yarder going the same direction in the second quarter.

“It would have been really difficult,” Lindell said. “He made it from 42 and that barely squeaked over the bar and he’s got a pretty big leg. It just hangs up there. If the wind dies down and you get it straight, then you have a shot. But if the wind picks up, I don’t care who you are, it’s just not going to go.”

“You want to have all the confidence in the world, but you’ve got to be real about it. I’ll be honest, I doubt I would have made it.”

The loss dropped Buffalo to 7-8 for the season and eliminated the Bills from the AFC playoff race. A win would have bought them another week.

Before the game, Lindell and Jauron decided they wouldn’t try kicking into the wind from outside 42 yards. That meant the Bills had to get the ball to the Tennessee 25-yard line for Lindell to even be an option.

After that last drive stalled inside Tennessee territory and the Bills had no timeouts to use, Jauron took a quick look at Lindell, before sending in Losman and the offense. Jauron said he saw enough in Lindell’s eyes to know a kick was too risky.

“He looked at me and I kind of shrugged,” Lindell said. “I’d probably make two out of 10. So, it was like, I don’t want to go into a whole math problem with it. It’s got to be a quick decision, so I didn’t really say anything. You don’t want to say ‘no, I can’t make it.’ It’s a blow to your confidence a little bit. But it was truthful. It was a long shot.”

The five-for-five performance tied Lindell’s personal best from the Sept. 11, 2005 game against the Houston Texans. Five field goals ties Lindell for second in team history. Steve Christie holds the record with six.

For the season, Lindell is 23-of-25 on field goal tries and a perfect 32-of-32 on point after attempts.

“If (coach Jauron) says field goal, I go get it,” Lindell said. “And I try to think of it like that. I just try to do my job.”

e-mail: mkrueger@beenews.com