Bills' Matt Prater applying real kicking pressure on Tyler Bass

With three more field goals and effective kickoffs, newly signed kicker Matt Prater is giving the Buffalo Bills something to think about.

Bills kicker Matt Prater is hoisted on the teams shoulders after his field goal beat the Ravens | Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

They say that, in football, if you have two quarterbacks you don't have a quarterback. But what if — like the Buffalo Bills — you have two kickers?

While incumbent Tyler Bass rehabs on Injured Reserve with pelvic issues, Matt Prater has passed being a one-week folk-lore hero into becoming a reliable weapon both on field goals and kickoffs. If the 41-year-old keeps up his improbable perfection, do the Bills return to Bass when he's healthy or do thy stick with the hot hand, er, foot?

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Prater's Fairy Tale story started before Week 1 when he was called off his couch to replace Bass. He caught a red-eye flight and wound up making the game-winning field in the epic comeback win over the Baltimore Ravens. But then Sunday against the New York Jets he proved it wasn't a fluke, making all three field goals - including a 52-yarder - and all three extra points in the Bills' 30-10 demolition of the New York Jets.

An underrated aspect of Prater are his kickoffs. Against the Jets, five of his seven landed deep in the "landing zone," forcing the Jets to return the ball from near their own goal-line. New York started three drives inside its own 30-yard line.

Buffalo Bills place kicker Tyler Bass watches as the back up punter Brad Robbins kicks a few balls at Bills Training Camp at St. John Fisher University in Pittsford on July 31, 2025. | Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Bills' head coach Sean McDermott said last week that both "Prater is the guy for the foreseeable future" and that "Tyler is our guy" for the long-term.

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Bass is 28 and in the middle of a four-year, $20.4 million contract. Prater is the oldest player in franchise history and will likely retire to Arizona if and when the Bills release him. But the more Prater makes field goals and pins opponents deep with his kickoffs, the more McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane have a decision to make.

On Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Giants when their kicker made a 64-yard field goal to force overtime, and the Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Philadelphia Eagles by three after missing a field goal.

The Bills are 2-0 and have their sights set squarely on the Super Bowl. At this point, we're not sure who their kicker would be in that game.

Bills Matt Prater kicks the winning FG against the Ravens. | Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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