Tag: jack fox

Special teams misadventures cost the Lions dearly in Week 4 loss

The Lions had a couple of great special teams plays but also some very costly mistakes

Detroit’s offense in Week 4 was great, scoring 45 points. The Lions defense was inept, surrendering 48 to the visiting Seahawks. But what about the third unit, the special teams?

It was an interesting afternoon for coach Dave Fipp’s punt and kick units.

Early on, special teams was about the only thing working for the Lions. Rookie LB Malcolm Rodriguez forced a fumble on Jack Fox’s first punt. Detroit quickly cashed that takeaway in for a pretty Jared Goff-to-T.J. Hockenson touchdown strike. Later in the first quarter, Fox found Quintez Cephus with an accurate dart and converted the fake punt on fourth down. Maurice Alexander, called up from the practice squad, had a nice kickoff return in there too.

Yet even the good special teams came with some warts. Kicker Dominik Eberle, signed off the practice squad on Saturday due to an injury to Austin Seibert, missed the extra point after the first Hockenson touchdown. Eberle booted a kickoff out of bounds, leading to a Seahawks field goal. Alexander ran into a wall at the 16-yard line on the subsequent Lions return, setting up some bad field position.

But Eberle wasn’t done. He missed a second extra point late in the second quarter. What should have been a 24-17 deficit was instead a two-score margin at the half. In a game where the Lions defense did not stop the Seahawks once, every point was critical.

Think about it this way: if Eberle hits those two routine extra points, the Lions are going for the tie on their last touchdown — or even another 2-pt. conversion and the potential late lead.

Detroit Lions Week 3 players of the game

The Lions lost to the Vikings but a few Detroit players had really strong games

While the Detroit Lions weren’t able to hold on to their lead against the Minnesota Vikings, several players on the team had noteworthy performances that should not go unrecognized.

Here are three players of the game for Week 3:

Offense: RB Jamaal Williams

Williams was the biggest contributor to the Lions’ offense today as he found the end zone twice. He netted 107 total yards against Minnesota, with 87 on the ground and 20 receiving. He averaged nearly five yards per touch as he became the go-to running back while D’Andre Swift was dealing with an injury.

Williams also helped convert a fourth down for Detroit that eventually drove the team to their second touchdown of the day.

Defense: LB Alex Anzalone

Leading the team in tackles was linebacker Alex Anzalone. The veteran linebacker showed something that the Lions defense hasn’t seen in a while: the ability to make plays in coverage. On a pass attempt to tight end Irv Smith, Anzalone was able to force an incompletion.

His play of the game came in the second half, where he had a wide-open lane to Kirk Cousins and was easily able to bring him down. Anzalone ended the day with 10 tackles and the lone sack.

Special teams: P Jack Fox

While Fox did have a spectacular day punting, his name appears here more so because kicker Austin Seibert and long snapper Scott Daly didn’t have the best performances of their respective careers.

Fox punted three times for an average of 44.7 yards per punt. Two of those punts landed inside the opposite 20-yard line, putting the Vikings in suboptimal field position.

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Jack Fox sets NFL marks for punting gross and net averages to start a career

Lions P Jack Fox sets NFL marks for punting gross and net averages to start a career

Jack Fox had a nice afternoon as the Detroit Lions punter in Week 1. Then again, he’s had quite a few of those in his first two-plus seasons. In fact, Fox’s first punt on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles vaulted him to the top of the NFL record book.

No punter has ever had a better start to a career than Fox.

From the Lions postgame media release,

(Fox) produced his 125th career punt. He owns the NFL’s highest gross (49.1) and net (43.4) averages through a player’s first 125 career punts in NFL history

Sunday’s performance actually lowered his averages a bit. Fox had four punts for a gross average of “just” 46.3 yards and a 43.0-yard net average, thanks in part to two punts he killed inside the Eagles’ 20-yard line.

Fox has finished 2nd and 3rd in gross punting yardage in his first two seasons. And to preempt the snide comments about Fox getting so much practice thanks to the Lions offense, he’s been outside the top 10 in punt attempts both years.

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The Lions have the cheapest group of specialists in the NFL in 2022

No team will pay less salary cap room to the punter, kicker and long snapper positions than the Lions in 2022

No NFL team will spend less salary cap room in 2022 on their specialists than the Detroit Lions. The core punter, kicker and long snapper payroll in Detroit tally up at just $3.51 million for 2022.

That is the lowest figure in the entire league. The Dallas Cowboys are next at just over $4 million. Seattle has the highest specialist payroll at $10.5 million. The Seahawks have the league’s highest-paid punter in Michael Dickson and fifth-highest-paid kicker in Jason Myers, each of whom earns significantly more than what the Lions will pay their entire current quartet.

The low figure really stands out because the Lions currently employ two kickers. Veteran Austin Seibert will battle second-year Riley Patterson for the kicking gig to join long snapper Scott Daly and punter Jack Fox as the Lions’ specialists.

All four specialists will earn the league minimum for their experience level this year. None will earn more than Seibert’s $965,000.

Fox and Daly are among the better players at their positions from 2021. The kicking shoes of longtime Lion Matt Prater are still struggling to get filled, however.

All salary information is provided by Spotrac. 

Lions P Jack Fox signs his ERFA tender offer

Fox is back in the Lions’ den for 2022 and can now sign an extension to keep him in Detroit long-term

It took a little longer than normal to happen, but Lions punter Jack Fox has officially put his signature on the exclusive rights free agent tender offer from the team. Fox signed the deal on Monday, per the NFL’s transaction wire.

There wasn’t really any other option for Fox, who will earn the league minimum of $895,000 for his experience level in 2022. As an exclusive rights free agent who was tendered by the team, he was either going to sign for the offer or not play anywhere in the upcoming season.

It’s a short-term solution for Fox, who has proven one of the NFL’s better punters in his two seasons in Detroit. Fox, a Pro Bowler in 2020, also has been the Lions’ primary kickoff guy, too. He can now work out a longer-term contract extension with the Lions, who have every intention of keeping the 25-year-old Fox in the den.

Detroit Lions play of the game for Week 16: Special teams trickery earns first down

Detroit Lions play of the game: Special teams trickery earns first down

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In yet another Lions-Falcons matchup that was decided in the last minute of the game, Detroit was unable to come away with a win despite a very strong defensive effort.

On offense, things didn’t always click, but they were able to keep this game within one score. The biggest play of the game for the Lions wasn’t on offense or defense though — it was on special teams.

Here’s how it went down:

The Lions started the drive at their 25-yard line thanks to a touchback by Atlanta’s kicker Younghoe Koo. The very first play of the drive never even happened thanks to a false start by rookie tight end Shane Zylstra.

Now backed up to the 20-yard line, quarterback Tim Boyle handed the ball off to Jamaal Williams who took it and ran for 14 yards before being pushed out of bounds. The next three plays were all Craig Reynolds. The running back gained the first down on the first carry but lost yardage on the second. He then was able to take a screen from Boyle for 14 yards while eluding several Falcons’ defenders to gain another first down.

The next three plays stuck to the run game but were slightly hindered by a false start from rookie right tackle Penei Sewell. The Lions now had a conundrum as they were faced with fourth-and-one. Down four points, they call a timeout to decide on their game plan and send the offense back out. Unfortunately, left guard Jonah Jackson committed the third false start penalty of the drive and moved Detroit back five yards once again.

The Lions called for a personnel change and the punt unit came out. Former Pro-Bowler took the field along with gunners Bobby Price and KhaDarel Hodge. Fox took the snap from Scott Daly but instead of punting the ball, he dropped back quickly for a pass.

Hodge and Price both sold the fake and their defenders were already trying to jam them downfield. The defense gave their initial push before preparing to block for the return that they thought was coming. Fox, standing on Detroit’s 42-yard line, made his first read and quickly passed it to Hodge. The receiver caught it at Atlanta’s 39-yard line and took it 15 more yards while making defenders miss.

This play was big, not just because it was risky to pull off and gained a first down, but it led to Detroit’s first touchdown of the game. That gave the Lions a 10-7 lead over Atlanta in the first half.

No Lions in the Pro Bowl? No problem!

No Detroit Lions garnered Pro Bowl berths for the 2021 season, but our Jeff Risdon believes that shouldn’t bother Lions fans

Not a single Detroit Lions player was selected for the Pro Bowl from the 2021 season. Not one.

Four players were chosen as alternates, but getting in as a third alternate in the way fullback Jason Cabinda could is the football equivalent of winning an F1 race because all the cars ahead of you crash on the final lap.

It’s an affront to Lions players who have performed consistently well despite the lack of team success. Cornerback Amani Oruwariye was tabbed as an “egregious snub” by Touchdown Wire, and that’s spot on. He’s not the only Detroit player overlooked because of some combination of the team’s 2-11-1 record, lack of national prominence, lack of sizzle players and being relegated to having Chris Myers call half their games for FOX.

Has there been a better right tackle than Penei Sewell? Both the eye test and the Pro Football Focus grading say he’s the best RT in the league. But he’s not even a Pro Bowl alternate. Maybe it stems from him playing half the year out of position at left tackle, though Sewell was still pretty good on the left side too.

Three Lions made the Pro Bowl after the 2020 season: Frank Ragnow, Jack Fox and T.J. Hockenson. Ragnow has missed almost all of 2021 with a thumb injury. Hockenson is now on IR after thumb surgery of his own, though he was one of the four Lions named as an alternate. Fox is technically having a better year in 2021 in gross yards per punt and ranks the same (third) leaguewide, so he’s a viable snub too.

There was no game last year, of course. And the players who did earn spots in the annual exhibition would likely prefer to not have the game played in 2022 either; the trip to Las Vegas with the family and colleagues is great, but the watered-down game itself has become a pointless cash grab of declining prestige in search of a paying audience.

Would it be nice if Oruwariye, Sewell, Fox or OLB Charles Harris made an appearance in the Pro Bowl? Of course. Are they deserving? Probably. Does it really matter? Other than for bonus incentives in contracts, heck no!

More knowledgeable and hardcore fans are coming to realize that it’s All-Pro nods that matter, not Pro Bowls. Between fan voting, virulently effective PR campaigns by teams to promote obscure players to get votes, and reflexive reactions based on team records or player reputations that might be woefully outdated (see: Alvin Kamara), there is a growing realization that the Pro Bowl isn’t the honor it used to be.

That’s a good thing. From a Lions perspective, it will be better when the team gets players honored with Pro Bowl nods who don’t really deserve it. Until then, forget about the popularity contest and the worst of the professional sports exhibitions, just as the Pro Bowl has forgotten about the Detroit Lions.

Takeaways from the Lions loss to the Bears on Thanksgiving

Here are some morning-after takeaways on the Lions’ Thanksgiving loss to the Bears. 

The Detroit Lions failed to deliver a win once again in Week 12. Playing at home against a banged-up Chicago Bears team that had lost five in a row, the Lions once again couldn’t seal the deal on a late lead and fell, 16-14, on a last-second field goal by Bears kicker Cairo Santos.

Now that the tryptophan has worn off from the postgame turkey spread, it’s time to dive back into another game where the Lions played well enough to win but also just a bit worse to create the loss. Now 0-10-1 on the season, this game represented Detroit’s best chance all season to notch an entry in the win column.

Here are some morning-after takeaways on the Lions’ Thanksgiving loss to the Bears.

Pro Bowl voting is open but the Lions don’t have many candidates

The Pro Bowl voting is now open and you can vote for Lions players, but it’s hard to find great candidates on the team

The NFL has opened up voting for the 2022 Pro Bowl. Fans can now help select the players who earn spots in the annual exhibition game that purports to honor the league’s top players.

The prestige of the Pro Bowl has largely worn off, and the game itself is often an unwatchable exhibition of players socializing during plays and trying desperately to not do anything strenuous. But it’s still a big deal for players, a status symbol and often a contractual bonus trigger.

There aren’t likely to be many Detroit Lions representing the team in the Pro Bowl in Las Vegas next February. In fact, it’s hard to find more than one strong candidate currently wearing a Lions uniform.

Punter Jack Fox made it last year, and Fox is well on his way to earning a return to the Pro Bowl. Fox currently ranks fourth in gross yards per punt.

There were two other Lions who made it after last season, C Frank Ragnow and TE T.J. Hockenson. Ragnow would be a lock at center this year too, but he’s on injured reserve after toe surgery.

Hockenson is sixth in receiving yards amongst tight ends and tied for second in receptions at TE. His pace has cooled in the last couple of games. If he can produce a 100-yard effort or bolster the touchdown total, Hockenson could be in line for a return.

On the rest of the offense, rookie right tackle Penei Sewell stands the best chance. He’s performed very well at a position where a lot of the regular fixtures are not all having Pro Bowl-worthy seasons. Running back D’Andre Swift is outside the top 20 in rushing yards but his NFL-high receiving production for RBs gives him a chance.

That’s really about it for the viable Pro Bowl candidates for Detroit in 2021. There’s a chance another player or two could surge into consideration with a strong second half of the year, but that seems unlikely.

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Lions vs Vikings: Studs and Duds for Week 5

The Detroit Lions suffered another heartbreaking loss this time to the Minnesota Vikings, but amongst the duds, there were some studs today.

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In a game where most thought the Detroit Lions would have no business being in, they made it a game till the very end. After going up late in the game, the victory was snatched away by another long field goal to seal the 19-17 victory for the Minnesota Vikings.

Like the first time against the Ravens, this is just as equally heartbreaking. The Lions’ defense kept the Vikings mostly at bay throughout the game, giving them a shot to steal it from their division opponent. Unfortunately, due to miscues, costly turnovers, and yet again questionable play-calling, the Lions are walking away with their fifth straight loss of the season.

It is hard not to feel for a team you are leaving it all on the field, especially the way they were able to come back right up until the end in an all-familiar fashion. It would be wrong not to highlight the few studs this week but also putting salt in the wound for the dud section.