Bills running back Fred Jackson wasn't the only player in the team's season finale that had 1,000 as a goal. While Jackson successfully rushed past the 1,000-yard barrier for the 2009 season, kicker Rian Lindell also surpassed 1,000 in another category. Career points.
The Bills kicker needed seven points in the team's final game against Indianapolis to reach the 1,000-point plateau and got more than enough to surpass the mark with 12 points in the season-ending 30-7 victory. Lindell had three field goals and three extra points.
His second field goal of the game midway through the third quarter, which also followed three extra points, was what put him over 1,000. Of course Lindell was unaware as to how close he was to the mark entering the final game of the regular season.
"I don't even know if Rian knew he could get 1,000 points," said punter and holder Brian Moorman. "I know I didn't so I was happy to see him get it."
"I knew at the beginning of the year I'd need around 100 points to get it," said Lindell. "But I didn't know at that point in the game. It's nice to have that."
Lindell finished the 2009 season with 108 points, the sixth 100-point season of his career. Only Lindell and Bills all-time leading scorer Steve Christie have five or more seasons with at least 100 points in their Bills career.
Christie (1,011) still leads Lindell (735) on the team's all-time scoring list by 276 points, though Lindell did move into second place this past season moving ahead of Scott Norwood (670 points) in career points with the Bills. The first 270 points of Lindell's career came with the Seattle Seahawks.
Lindell's season, in which he went 28-33 on field goals (84.85%) was the fifth most accurate in team annals now giving him four of the five best kicking percentage seasons in Bills history. He's obviously the team's all-time field goal percentage leader with an overall success rate of 83.3 percent.
He also had a career long 56-yard field goal in the Week 12 win over Miami this season.
"It's pretty much the same for Rian, he treats them all the same," said Moorman. "He's very even-keeled. I always kid with him that I have more emotion out there in big kicks than he does. That's just him and that's what makes him so good."
