When people think about an NFL kicker, they think of a small, unimportant part of the team that comes in a few times a game and probably getting shoved away during a big kickoff return, much like Stephen Hauschka was during the Buffalo Bills’ 23-17 win against the Atlanta Falcons.

What people neglect to acknowledge is a kicker is such a critical part of teams scoring that the importance gets lost in the shuffle behind the glitz and glamour of scoring a touchdown. You may not know it but Hauschka has already contributed 31 points to the Bills this season. That’s more than running back LeSean McCoy has put up thus far (zero) and one more than quarterback Tyrod Taylor if you count each of his touchdowns as six.

What makes Hauschka’s performance even more impressive is he’s the only kicker to make at least four field goals of 50+ yards and was just named the AFC Special teams Player of the Week for the second straight week, the first Buffalo player to receive two consecutive Player of the Week honors since Bills legend and Hall-of-Famer Bruce Smith did back in 1990.

Even more incredible for the Buffalo kicker is he can tie a league record if he makes his 12th consecutive kick of 50 yards or more on his next attempt.

For the Bills, they haven’t had their share of kicking success as of late. Former kicker Dan Carpenter started off strong for Buffalo in 2013 but fizzled out to finish 19 for 25 and missed five extra points in his final year with the team last season. Enter Hauschka.

LeSean McCoy reflected on the kicking game and the importance he sees in it.

“Yeah, well plus me being here over the years, we’ve had drives and we needed kicks to be made and they [were] missed, where it kind of helped us out to win games. I think this year we have that kicker. He [Stephen Hauschka] is executing for us, getting us out of jams, driving the ball on long drives and him bailing us out, but you need that. I think good teams have a good kicking game. All points matter.”

For Stephen Hauschka, he didn’t even intend on playing football in college. After being cut from the soccer team at Middlebury College in Vermont, a friend urged him to try out for the football team as a placekicker. Hauschka obliged and ended up setting the school record for field goals in a season and in a career. He did all this while also playing on the school lacrosse team in the spring.

Rather than move on to dental school after graduation, Stephen Hauschka decided to use his one year of eligibility from being cut from the soccer team his freshman year at Middlebury and attend graduate school at N.C. State. This is where the misspelling of his name as “Steven” started as he won the job for the Wolfpack that year. He made his way from team to team and eventually won himself a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks and was a staple of their stellar special teams.

Hauschka now finds himself on a Buffalo team that’s reliant on him. It’s not as if they decided to but the way the chips fall almost forces him to be. The Bills deploy a conservative offense that will grind away at opposing defenses with a running attack and a dominant defense that’s akin to hard-fought, old-school football. This strategy makes points harder to come by but does a number on opposing teams.

When Buffalo drives the ball, they’re ok with scoring points in any way. It doesn’t matter to head coach Sean McDermott if they score points on defense or with a kick. All that matters is they get on the board.

With the Bills offense a lot of the time depending on Stephen Hauschka’s leg, he’s been prepared for it and he’s enjoying making those long kicks.

“Yeah, it’s fun to be out there,” said Hauschka.

“The crowd’s yelling, it’s a position I want to be in, this is what I trained for. This is my job, I love it.”

The media also asked him about his nickname, “Hausch Money” that has followed him since Seattle and what he thinks of it.

“Yeah, I like it. I’ve had that for a little while. Yeah, it’s awesome that it’s come to Buffalo now.”

At the end of the day, most kickers in the NFL are quiet and reserved. The same is true for Hauschka. He knows his job and he’s professional in his approach, ready when needed and on the money when he has to be.

“I’ve been around it, I’ve seen the ebbs and flows of the season. The games are going to go different directions, and next week, it’ll probably be another player on the team that you guys are talking to, so I get that. I’m just happy to do my job, whatever that entails each week.”

If the Bills are going to continue their success, part of it is going to come off of the leg of Stephen Hauschka.

Buffalo squares off against the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday, a team that the Bills need to beat before going into the bye week to rest up. Although Hauschka is only on the field for a handful of plays each game, he’s a major part of the success Buffalo has had this season and can hopefully get the Bills to somewhere they haven’t been in 17 seasons, the playoffs.