BEREA, Ohio — Tyler Bass missed a couple more field goals.The Buffalo Bills kicker foozled attempts from 35 and 42 yards during Thursday’s joint practice against the Cleveland Browns. Five days earlier, in the preseason opener at Highmark Stadium, a 45-yard try veered too far right.Bass, however, insisted he’s all right. In fact, he added that missing kicks feels good.The notion seems as cockeyed as Bass’ signature gameday routine of applying eye black beneath only his left one.But in a conversation with The Athletic, Bass explained that missing the entire 2025 season and undergoing sports hernia surgery taught him to value the entire NFL kicking experience, even the misses that come with such a high-pressure job.“I’ve done it for a while, made a lot of kicks, missed kicks,” Bass said. “Sometimes it doesn’t work, you know? Even having a miss in the preseason game, I was grateful just to feel that. It’s been a while, so I got to feel all the emotions of dealing with that.“Just feeling it again, that’s what you deal with in this job.”Bass was a picture of serenity while talking inside the Browns’ facility on Lou Groza Boulevard, named after the Hall of Fame offensive tackle/kicker known simply as The Toe.Not only did Bass explain there’s time to work through any issues, but he’s also confident his inaccuracies are purely mechanical rather than anything sinister.“At this point, it’s not mental or getting healthy,” Bass said.When the Bills open the regular season against the Houston Texans in three weeks, it will have been 595 days since Bass last kicked in a meaningful game. He struggled last summer with what the Bills called left hip and groin injuries and went on injured reserve at the end of training camp.The Bills signed Matt Prater for what they believed was a temporary fix, but Bass’ rehabilitation — all those workouts and painkiller injections — proved futile. By November, setbacks forced him to Dr. William C. Meyers, the pioneering sports hernia repairman in Philadelphia.“It’s an injury that, for a kicker, is a nightmare,” said the 29-year-old Bass. “But it happened, and I got through it, and if anything I have more belief in myself. If I can overcome that, I can overcome anything.”Bass’ first few weeks of recovery were an eye-opener. Not playing for Buffalo down the homestretch was one thing. Not being able to perform toddler-level physical functions was another.“You take for granted walking, getting out of bed, walking up stairs, bending over,” Bass said. “When it’s taken from you, there’s a heightened awareness. I know a lot of guys get injured, and a lot of respect to those guys because it can be hard to get your body back. I know how much it takes now.“You’ve just got to trust that everything will come back, but it’s a mental grind. I learned a lot about myself, and I’m grateful to have experienced it.”With no guarantees about Bass’ viability after his sports hernia surgery, Buffalo signed kicker Maddux Trujillo in January. Trujillo was waived four months later, and no other kicker was brought aboard to compete.The gesture hasn’t gone unnoticed.“It shows backing from the people that believe in me,” said Bass, “and that goes a long way. This is a team that drafted me, and I’ve built a lot of really good relationships. So it does mean a lot.”Bass spent most of the offseason working out at One Bills Drive. He said he started to feel back to normal by the start of OTAs and that the rest of his summer has been like any other throughout his career. He credited director of performance and innovation Joe Collins, senior director of rehabilitation and player health Joe Micca, and assistant strength and conditioning coach Jason Oszvart with restoring his strength and maintaining his sanity.And if you think it sounds strange that Bass is enthusiastic about missing field goals again, his approach to recovery may offer insight into his psychology.The pain, the anxiety, the frustration — he came to crave the fight for progress.“I kind of enjoyed it,” Bass said. “I knew where I was at, and when I was in the gym a couple months after surgery, two months earlier I never felt like I could do that again. I was getting the love back for everything. When something is taken away from you, and you have the opportunity to get it back, it’s a pretty amazing feeling.“That’s how I’m going to treat this year. I’m grateful to be back. I’m just going to let it fly.”