ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – No one needs to explain to Joe Nedney and Rian Lindell that football is a game of inches.
The two kickers in Sunday's game suffered disparate fates at wet and windy Ralph Wilson Stadium, and it was one of the reasons why Nedney's 49ers came out on top.
Facing a fourth-and-one situation at the end of the first half, the 49ers called a timeout to decide whether they would go for the first down or allow Nedney to attempt a 50-yard field goal.
Nedney had been good from as far away as 54 yards before the game. But the field had grown wet since then and the temperature had dropped. When he kicked the ball, it felt like a brick.
"I didn't hit it 100 percent clean," Nedney said after the game. "But the wind was playing a little bit at my back and it kind of carried it."
As Nedney's high, arcing shot fell toward the ground, it ever so slightly cleared the crossbar.
"From where I was standing, all I saw was it go behind the crossbar," Nedney said. "That's all that matters to me."
Lindell was not nearly as lucky. Lindell has the record for most consecutive field goals in Bills history, but his second-quarter attempt from 20 yards careened off the left upright. Lindell improbably found the left upright again in the fourth quarter, this time from 40 yards.
Asked whether the snaps and the holds were sound on his attempts, Lindell said, "Certainly the last one. The first one … I'm not going to make excuses. I stunk. I don't know what to tell you."
No regular Joe – There was a new voice calling Sunday's game for the 49ers' flagship station, KNBR (KFBK 1530 in Sacramento). Regular play-by-play announcer Joe Starkey on Saturday came down with laryngitis.
A scratchy-voiced Starkey called the first drive for the 49ers but realized he couldn't continue.
"When the first drive was over, I looked at him and he looked at me, and we both knew he had to stop," said KNBR program director Lee Hammer.
On the air, Starkey said it was the first game he did not finish in 20 years. Starkey gave way to KTVU Channel 2 (Oakland) weekend sports anchor Joe Fonzi, who finished the broadcast with game analyst Gary Plummer.
Et cetera – The 49ers left Buffalo with only one injury. Linebacker Patrick Willis bruised his ribs but returned to the game. Willis led all players with 14 tackles.
• Tight end Vernon Davis, who is unhappy with his role in the passing game, saw only one throw go his way, which he hauled in for an apparent 37-yard touchdown. Davis, however, was flagged for offensive pass interference and instead was hit with a 10-yard penalty.
• Bills fans gave the 49ers a very Buffalo-appropriate welcome as they arrived in Orchard Park on Sunday: They pelted the team buses with snowballs.
Read Matthew Barrows' 49ers blog at www.sacbee.com/ninersblog.
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