Buffalo Bills kicker Rian Lindell set a team record by kicking his 18th straight field goal yesterday. And he did it in style, booting a 51-yarder just as a light snow began falling on Ralph Wilson Stadium (note: the previous record of 17 consecutive FGs was held by Steve Christie). At the time, the kick gave the Bills a 24-7 lead and they went on to beat the Miami Dolphins 38-17 to keep their AFC Wild Card playoff hopes alive. Rian has been one of the NFL’s best kickers this season, hitting on 88% of his field goal attempts so far. I caught-up with Rian in the Bills locker room after the game. Here’s part of our conversation:

DAVID: Rian, first of all congrats on the win. But also congrats on setting a team record — 18 straight field goals!

RIAN: Thank you. We came to play today and played pretty well. And it was nice to hit that one (kick) and to add to our lead at the time. It would be nice to say 19 (note: Rian unfortunately missed his next kick) but, oh well. It was a win and I guess if you’re going to miss, miss in a win.

DAVID: And it was really a must-win game in a situation when certainly you couldn’t afford to look ahead.

RIAN: Yeah, I think if we don’t come away with a win in this one, it’s over. I don’t know about mathematically or whatever, but they’re all big games. We knew Miami was better than an 0-12 team. They’ve lost a lot of close games and even the game we played down there earlier we had to battle to come back and win that one. It’s a testament to the guys on this team and the coaches made sure we were focusing on this game. And I think the guys understood that. We couldn’t look ahead. And that has nothing to do with Miami, but to lose at this point by looking ahead — we knew we needed to take care of business here first.

DAVID: It’s an awesome feeling in this locker room to be in the middle of the playoff race. It’s been a dry spell for this team as far as the playoffs.

RIAN: It’s nice. It’s definitely nicer than showing up and playing for pride or whatever. We’ll go home now and see how Cleveland’s doing and how Tennessee’s doing. It’s fun to be involved in that.

DAVID: You’ve been such a huge part of this team’s success this year and keeping the Bills in the playoff race this late in the season. Your kicking and the special teams play has been outstanding.

RIAN: We take special teams very seriously around here. When they look at bringing a guy in here, they look at how he does on special teams as well. Some teams, perhaps, get their offense and defense squared away and then everybody left over, they make a special teams unit out of them. Here, we take it as a third of the team and Coach Jauron gives Bobby (April, special teams coach) a lot of time to work on it — meeting time and practice time.

DAVID: Watching last week’s game against the Redskins, Rian. You practically score all the team’s points and then the game-winner in a clutch situation at the end with the rain falling. Does kicking in those pressure situations come naturally for you or have you built a sort of resistance to that pressure?

RIAN: You kind of get used to it because they’re all big kicks — obviously for the team or they wouldn’t send me out there, but also for me, personally, because I’ve been trying to keep my job for eight years now (laughs). So every kick is big. I don’t know what I have now (thinking) 24 attempts and I’ve made 21 of those. And not that field goal percentage is everything (note: Rian led the NFL in FG% coming into this game). So they’re all big and I think I’ve done a much better job over the past couple years of having my game kicks feel like practice kicks. I go out, look down, see Brian’s (Moorman, punter and holder) fingers there and know that it’s just a matter of me kicking. And the other stuff that enters your mind — the stuff that entered my mind my first couple of years in the league — just doesn’t come in there anymore. It’s just a matter of hitting a good ball.

See also my interview with Bills LB Keith Ellison and Gameday blog.

If you want to vote for Rian to represent the Bills on the AFC Pro Bowl roster in February, just click here to vote at nfl.com/probowl/ballot. There are only a couple days left to vote so get to it.

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Interview: Buffalo Bills K Rian Lindell

Buffalo Bills kicker Rian Lindell should be on the AFC’s Pro Bowl team this season. After 13 weeks of this 2007 NFL regular season, he’s made 91% of his kicks (that leads the NFL) and is a perfect 16-16 on extra point tries. He has two game-winning kicks, including last weekend’s 5-for-5 performance. You also have to take into consideration the environment where he kicks. Half of his games are outdoors at typically windy Ralph Wilson Stadium. If Rian makes his next field goal attempt, he’ll pass former Bills kicker Steve Christie for the team’s all-time mark. Rian and the rest of the Bills’ special teams unit are the big reason Buffalo is still alive in the AFC playoff race.

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Rian Lindell Getting a Kick Out of ‘07 Season

I didn’t know what to expect from the Washington Redskins today. After a tumultuous week in which they lost one of their own (safety Sean Taylor was tragically killed earlier this week), it was anyone’s guess what the team’s performance would be like today against the Buffalo Bills.

The Redskins honored Sean before the game (as did every NFL stadium this weekend) and even left his starting safety spot vacant on the first defensive play. But at the end of a hard fought contest, the Skins would lose 17-16 after a double-time out by head coach Joe Gibbs allowed Buffalo kicker Rian Lindell to hit a 36-yard field goal with four seconds left on the clock for the win. I couldn’t believe Coach Gibbs was responsible. I knew he called the first time out, but I thought a player on the field accidentally called the second one. Coach Gibbs confirmed his mistake after the game, however:

“There’s nobody to blame but myself. I should have known the rule.”

It was really a game of two halves. The first half belonged to Washington as they controlled time of possession but managed only three field goals for a 9-2 lead at intermission. Their lack of production would come back to haunt them as they allowed Buffalo to hang around. Credit the Bills, though. This was not their first bend-but-don’t-break defensive effort.

Buffalo continues to have problems scoring, but they made plays when they needed them most and relied on Rian Lindell’s right leg to lead them to victory. Rian kicked five field goals. And he actually made the 51-yard kick that was negated by Coach Gibbs’ first timeout at the end of the game. (This is a new controversy in itself — calling time outs a split-second before the ball is snapped on game-deciding kicks.) But if you want to talk about big plays, it was rookie QB Trent Edwards’ precision 30-yard completion to Josh Reed that set up that game-winning kick. Trent finished 22 of 36 for 257 yards and probably most importantly, he didn’t commit any turnovers. He is now 4-1 as a starter for the Bills.

For the Redskins, their NFC playoff hopes are probably finished after this loss as they dropped to 5-7. But the Bills stay alive in the AFC race at 6-6 and continue to be a team that never gives up and never stops playing hard. It also seemed like justice was served to a team that had lost two games this season on the final play of the game. Washington will attend Sean’s funeral as a team tomorrow, but it’s doubtful they will be able to put this tragedy behind them and win their remaining games.

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Redskins Honor Sean Taylor but Lose to Buffalo Bills 17-16 on Last-Second Field Goal

One thing’s for sure in the National Football League. There is no such thing as an ugly win. The Buffalo Bills can attest to that after a frustrating but eventually exhilarating afternoon in South Florida today, beating the (still) winless Miami Dolphins 13-10 on kicker Rian Lindell’s late 34-yard field goal. There’s also no such thing as a sure thing. On paper, even at 4-4 the Bills looked like decided favorites over an 0-8 team. Not so fast. The Dolphins might be one of the best 0-9 teams in the history of the NFL. They also might have been a holding call and dropped pass away from winning this game. Buffalo was very fortunate to get out of Miami with a win.

For much of the game, the Bills offense was simply inept — 214 total yards, two third down conversions, some dropped passes and a turnover. It was difficult to watch. Meanwhile, the defense continued in their reliable bend-but-don’t-break fasion, giving up 124 rushing yards to RB Jesse Chatman, but making plays when they were needed and holding the Dolphins to 10 points. Quarterback J.P. Losman, who turned in a less-than-average performance (12 of 23 for 157 yards), summed it up best afterwards:

“This win tells a lot about our team. Our backs were to the wall, and we made enough plays when we had to.”

Making plays when they have to is not something the Dolphins have been able to do this season, losing five of their nine games by a mere three points. At least they have a sense of humor about it. Defensive tackle Vonnie Holiday likened their situation to a Peanuts cartoon character:

“Who’s the guy from Charlie Brown who has the gray cloud following him around? Pig Pen? We’re like Pig Pen.”

Buffalo’s win set the stage for a huge Sunday Night Football matchup with the undefeated (and rested) New England Patriots next week. The Bills are a better football team at home and with the prime-time crowd behind them, they could give the Pats some trouble. Still, they will need to play much better if they are to be the first to beat a team that has few, if any, weaknesses.

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No Such Thing as an Ugly Win, Bills Beat Winless Dolphins For Fourth Straight Victory