Lions vs. Vikings Week 7 Scouting Report: Kirk Cousins is heating up
Special Teams
It’s generally not a good sign when your placekicker is the best player on the field in a given game, and that was the case for the Lions in Monday’s defeat. Regardless, Matt Prater was sublime, nailing all five of his field-goal attempts, including two from 50-plus yards.
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Those two makes gave him 50 career conversions from that distance, making him just the third NFL player with that distinction (he joined former Lion Jason Hanson on that list).
We’ve said it before on SideLion Report, and here it is again: the Lions should thank their lucky stars that they have No. 5, especially considering the many rocky kicking situations across the NFL.
Kicking for the Vikings is veteran Dan Bailey, who seems to have settled one of those aforementioned rocky setups down, at least for the time being. He has hit all but one of his nine field-goal attempts this year, including one from 50 yards.
With Minnesota’s offense piling up yards and points the last two weeks, the Lions would clearly prefer to see more of Dan Bailey on the field than the Vikings’ dangerous red-zone packages.
Jamal Agnew seems to have snuffed out the ball security issues that plagued him on returns earlier in the season and has helped the Lions establish decent starting field position on many of their drives in recent games. A big game from him would be a major lift for Detroit.
For Minnesota, former Lion Ameer Abdullah will see occasional kick return snaps, while veteran Marcus Sherels typically handles the punt returns, though he has yet to break one longer than 15 yards this season.