The No. 6-seeded Buffalo Bills will travel to Empower Field at Mile High to take on the No. 1-seeded Denver Broncos in an AFC Divisional Round playoff game on Saturday at 4:30 pm. With all the injuries the Bills have endured, one bright side they have to look forward to is a player coming off the injured reserve list.
Fortunately for the Bills, it's their kicker, Matt Prater. Let's welcome him back and hope that he is ready to take on this challenge.
Matt Prater's return to Denver
The Bills must follow the Science with Denver's high altitude
It's no secret that as altitude increases, air pressure decreases. Since science is all around us, especially in football, Denver, Colorado, is at an altitude of 5,280 feet above sea level.
With the Bills having to deal with the air pressure change during the game, that doesn't rattle players like quarterback Josh Allen, whose thoughts are, don't even think about it and just play. That, of course, is easier said than done for some of the other players who may not be used to playing in this very high air pressure.
For Prater, this is not new to him. The oldest active kicker in the league played at Denver's altitude between the 2007 and 2013 NFL seasons.
The 41-year-old should be used to having to kick again in Denver, despite being on the visiting team coming in and looking to pull off a monumental playoff upset. Despite having a stable altitude back in Orchard Park, the winters are just as brutal as those in the Rocky Mountains in Denver.
It's one thing that he's used to kicking in the cold during the playoffs, but it's refreshing that Prater is also used to kicking in high altitude and low air pressure. Also, when did the cold ever bother Prater anyway? It's not like he'll be "frozen" in Denver this Saturday.
Prater's return from the IR
The Bills really could have used Prater's availability back in Weeks 16 and 17. The clutch kicker injured both his quad and calf, and nobody could have benefited more from his return than Bills fans. They had to watch now-released kicker Michael Badgley, who mainly kicked indoors, miss a key extra point in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles, which meant they wouldn't have had to lose on a missed two-point conversion attempt.
That, however, is all water under the bridge, as now Bills Mafia can only hope that Prater can kick a hypothetical game-winning field goal in the fourth quarter should the game have to be put in Prater's feet and legs.
Kicking against the Jags
The 19-year veteran had no problem kicking against the Jaguars in Sunday's Wild Card victory. He recorded two field goals and made all three of his extra points. It looks like the Bills' kicker is back to his old self and ready to take on his old team.
Prater ended the regular season kicking 18 of 20 field goals, completing 46 extra points out of 49, and compiling 84 kickoffs, with 11 touchbacks.
It should be interesting to see what occurs on Saturday, as the game is expected to be tight all the way into the fourth quarter, and from there, anything goes. As for Prater, break a leg.