Lions kicker Jake Bates wins NFC Special Teams Player of the Month

Detroit Lions kicker Jake Bates missed his first field goal of the season in Week 13, but it did not diminish what he did over the entire month. On Thursday, he was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for November.

"The Lions are the top team in the NFC, and the play of their kicker has been a pivotal reason as to why. Bates piled up 41 points in November, going a perfect 17 of 17 on point-after tries while converting eight field goals in nine attempts. Four of those field goals were dialed up from 50 yards or farther."
-Grant Gordon, NFL.com

Bates' showing in November was highlighted by his performance in Week 10 against the Houston Texans, when he made a 58-yard field goal to tie the game and a 52-yarder to win the game as the Lions completed an epic comeback. He won NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for the second time this season for that clutch performance, having also done so in Week 7.

Bates made his first 19 field goal attempts, as the Lions were the last team in the league to have a missed field goal this season. Special teams coach Dave Fipp is not concerned about the miss on Thanksgiving Day having any lingering effect.

"I thought the whole operation probably could’ve been better, honestly, on that play. That being said, we should’ve made the kick," Fipp said. "I mean, you can say the operation should be better on darn near every one of these things if you’re being critical enough, but, like I’ve always said, the job of the kicker is to make it. If you play in high school, you’ve got to have everything perfect, if you play in the NFL everything can’t be perfect and you’ve still got to be perfect and make it. But no, he’s having a great year for us, he’s done a great job, he’s still in a good spot, he’s hitting the ball well, we kicked yesterday, he looks great."

Jake Bates wins NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for November

Bates is the first Lions kicker to win Special Teams Player of the Month since Matt Prater in September of 2017. He is the third Lions' kicker to win the award, joining Prater (a two-time winner) and Jason Hanson (a five-time winner).

For the first time in franchise history according to Lions PR, the Lions have now had a player win Offensive, Defensive and Special Teams Player of The Month awards in a single season. Aidan Hutchinson won NFC Defensive Player of the Month for September, and Jared Goff won NFC Offensive Player of the Month for October. Bates also has two of the team's six Player of the Week awards this season.