The line between success and failure in football is thin in every facet, but it definitely ratchets up in the kicking game. After some unexpected struggles last season, Detroit Lions kicker Jake Bates worked to make a subtle change in an effort to get back to the form he showed in 2024.
What Bates did to alter the distance he is from the ball before he starts his approach on field goals and extra points is working. He made all 10 of his field goal attempts over the Lions' first six games this season, including all five of his attempts from 40 or more yards out, while going 22-for-22 on extra points.
In Week 8 against the Minnesota Vikings, Bates made his lone extra-point attempt along with field goal makes from 25 and 37 yards out. A 46-yard attempt in the third quarter hit the left upright for his first miss of the season, and fortunately, the miss did not come back to haunt the Lions in a four-point victory.
Jake Bates' first missed kick this season was not at all his fault
Any little thing can set a kick off course. A defender could get a hand up and/or get a finger on it. A subtle misstep in a kicker's approach can throw off timing, as can a bad snap or a less-than-seamless placement by the holder. A lot of times, those operational imperfections can be overcome, and the end result is successful, which is all that matters even if it doesn't look great.
On Thursday, Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp revealed what caused Bates' first missed kick of the season.
The ball hit holder Jack Fox's hand.
"Ultimately the ball ended up kind of hitting Fox’s down hand. So, his hand was a little bit in the way on the thing,” Fipp said. “So, he really hit a good ball. It didn’t look like that obviously to us and hitting the upright, but that was really the cause of it.”
Upon closer review, as shown by Jeremy Reisman of Pride of Detroit, Bates appeared to actually kick Fox's right hand. You can see Fox react to his hand being hit.
To clarify, it looks like Bates actually KICKED Fox’s hand. pic.twitter.com/mEuRXWmBo9
— Jeremy Reisman (@DetroitOnLion) November 5, 2026
A very subtle and easy-to-miss thing in the moment. Fox was just enough...you could say loose? with where he set his non-holding hand down after receiving Hogan Hatten's snap. Bates literally kicked it, and the field goal attempt went just enough astray to hit the left upright.
Fox's small mishap didn't cost the Lions, when it very well could have if the Vikings' offense were at all equipped to take advantage of the miss by Bates. The subtle cause of the miss has surely already been fixed in practice this week.
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