Buffalo Bills' rookie head coach Joe Brady displayed tremendous confidence in kicker Tyler Bass, but it didn't come without substantial risk.
Passing up an opportunity to shorten the imminent attempt, Brady sent Bass out to try a 45-yard field goal on second down immediately following the two-minute warning in overtime on Monday Night Football against the Los Angeles Rams.
Fortunately for the Bills, Bass , who has been perfect on field goal attempts since returning from missing the entire 2025 season, calmly nailed the kick right down the middle to end the NFL's Week 5 finale in thrilling fashion.
"There was no panic. It was just conversations of how do we want to handle this. 45-yard kick, I felt like T. Bass was going to boot that and be good with it," said Brady.
For reference, NFL kickers have converted 45-yard field goals approximately 79 percent of the time over the past decade. Although the odds are good, it's far from a chip shot.
Arguably more important than shortening the field goal distance, however, the Bills declined to buy insurance against a potential Bass miss by not bleeding time off the game clock.
What Bills could've done instead
Rather than attempting the field goal on second down, the Bills could've called at least one more safe run play such as a quarterback sneak to take another 40-plus seconds off the clock. Therefore, if Bass missed, the Rams would have barely 1:00 remaining and no timeouts on the potential ensuing possession.
"We had some conversation on the sideline about, hey, what should we do?" said Brady. "Do we take two knees right there and go back and at least they don't have a chance at a rebuttal? … Do you run two kind of QB sneaks and just know you're not losing yards, but there's a lot of risk — bangs on the head or punching at the ball?"
Ultimately, Brady chose to go no further, immediately putting the outcome on Bass's shoulders.
Quarterback Josh Allen supported Brady's decision during his postgame comments, reiterating the unwanted risk that comes from running another play, or two, from scrimmage in that particular situation.
"Listen, they're gonna go Blitz Zero every play. You can hit your head into a wall and hopefully get yardage, but you're putting the ball at risk every time you do that. Even with good ball security, but potential penalties, potential turnovers," said Allen.
The fact that Bass was apparently comfortable with kicking from the spot at which the Bills stood likely made the decision easier.
"Felt very confident about the left hash, and T. Bass wanted it there. Felt like it was within his range, within his safety range. Joe made the decision to put the ball down and kick it, and T. Bass drilled one," said Allen.
Still, Buffalo could've remained on the left hash by executing two QB sneaks over left guard while also taking significant time off the game clock. Furthermore, Brady is seemingly overstating the risk, considering the Bills' unprecedented success on Allen's short yardage attempts.
Even though there may have been a better way, however, Bass eliminated any reason for critics to second guess the decision.
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