Rian Lindell figured he had the misses out of his system after his four field goal performance last week in Kansas City following his game-losing miss on Monday Night Football against Cleveland in week 9.
The uprights at Ralph Wilson Stadium apparently thought differently as they denied Lindell two field goals on the day, the last a 40-yarder that would have pulled the Bills within four points of the San Francisco 49ers with 5:32 to play.
Lindell made no excuses for the miss, saying that the hold and snap were good enough for him to get a good line on.
"I am just not hitting the ball well," Lindell said. "I got a good hit on it and the distance was there but it doesn't matter if you don't hit it straight."
Bills coach Dick Jauron said he thought the ball slipped on Lindell's first miss, causing Lindell to miss the kick that broke his league-leading streak of 53 consecutive made field goals inside the 40-yard-line.
"The first one, the ball obviously slipped on the surface," he said.
Still, Lindell placed the blame on himself, reflecting on the end of the streak and his overall performance this year, in which he has hit 25 of 31 field goals.
"The first one…I am not going to make any excuses," he said. "I stunk, I don't know what to tell you. I just haven't hit my target line this year, it has just been kind of an uphill climb. I get something going then something like (Sunday) happens and that's just ridiculous."
Bills offensive tackle Langston Walker said he didn't question the Bills' decision to call on Lindell instead of going for the first down on fourth-and-seven.
"I wasn't upset," he said. "I trust Rian, I see him every day and he's got a job to do just like the rest of us. I'm sure he's upset though. We all have bad days."
While Walker said all players have bad days, Sunday was surely Lindell's worst this year, despite his successful 22-yarder. He hasn't missed two field goals in a game since week 10 of the 2005 season, when he went 0-for-2 against Kansas City.
Sunday's performance moves Lindell's career marks to 185 out of 231 career kicks (80%). This season, his success rate matches that, but he's missed three out of his last eight kicks.
Still, Lindell, who reached the 100-point milestone Sunday for the fifth time in his nine-year career, said his confidence isn't shaken.
"No, I know I am good," he said. "I hit good balls all the time, I line up, try to stay smooth, try to hit a good ball and I am just not going down my line."
Jauron said while the team has confidence in Lindell's ability to hit those good balls, he needs to step up and ht them sooner rather than later to give the Bills a chance to win against teams like Cleveland and San Francisco. He said the impact of those misses speaks for itself.
"Clearly, we have great confidence in him, but he has to make them," Jauron said. "We can't just keep giving away opportunities to score and think we're going to win. We're obviously not winning when we do it."
