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Peter Schrager
NFL Insider & NFL Reporter
Every week, FOX Sports NFL Insider Peter Schrager opens his notebook and opines on three of the biggest storylines around the league. Here are his takes heading into Week 11, including the unlikely ascension of the Lions’ kicker, a hot head coach candidate in Los Angeles, and big decisions facing the Bills.
Lions’ Magical 2024
The Lions aren’t supposed to win games like Sunday night’s miracle 26-23 victory over the Houston Texans.
Jared Goff threw five interceptions.
The team trailed by 16 points at the half on the road.
Their kicker from the United Football League nailed two field goals from more than 50 yards in the final stanza.
But they did. And sometimes, it’s just one of those years.
The Lions used to lose those games. The stats from Sunday’s win are mind-boggling. It’s the largest comeback win for Detroit in 10 years. The Lions were just the second team in NFL history to throw five interceptions in a game and be able to erase a 15-point deficit. Goff was just the fourth quarterback in NFL history to throw five interceptions on the road and win a game. One of the others was a guy named Frankie Sinkwich, and that was in 1944.
The interceptions were the story of the first half, and the comeback was spectacular. But Jake Bates has become a bona fide weapon as well. Bates hit his first game-winning field goal of his career on Sunday, but it came alongside a wild, 58-yard game-tying make minutes earlier. Bates’s story is pretty emblematic of this Lions team as a whole. Overlooked, considered done a few years ago, and now cracking skulls — he may as well be the face of the 2024 team.
When kicker Michael Badgley went down with a preseason injury, the Lions turned to an unlikely name. Bates’ story is unique. He played college soccer at Arkansas State but transferred to Texas State, where he only did kickoffs. In that 2020 Texas State season,…
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Publish date : 2024-11-12 17:19:44
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