Lions kicker Jake Bates wins NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for Week 7

Last Sunday was set up to be a defining moment for Detroit Lions kicker Jake Bates. To quote Roy McAvoy (played by Kevin Costner) in the movie Tin Cup, "when a defining moment comes, you define the moment, or the moment defines you."

With a 44-yard field goal game-winning field goal to give the Lions a 31-29 win over the Vikings, Bates defined the moment and provided a dose of all-around confidence he will come through in similar moments down the road.

Bates made all four of his extra points along with that game-winning field goal against Minnesota. As such, he has been named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for Week 7.

"The Lions needed every one of Bates' 7 total points he scored off his right foot in Sunday's gripping over the Vikings. Bates' 44-yard game-winning kick highlighted a day that included him converting all four of his extra points."
-Michael Bacha, NFL.com

Jake Bates continues Lions' run of Player of the Week awards

After the game, Lions head coach Dan Campbell talked about the confidence he had in Bates when the game-winning field goal attempt came.

"We felt good about it. We've had five NFL games with him", Campbell said. "When you see him every day in practice and you give him the crowd noise and you move the spot and I'm yelling at him and you apply pressure and watch him, he just continues to make these kicks. You feel pretty good when he gets thrust into it. It's not the same, but yet it is. We just felt like his confidence has grown and he would go out there (like) it's just the next kick. He did that, so (I'm) really proud of him."

This is the fourth consecutive game a Lions' player has won a weekly award (of course excluding their Week 5 bye), as Bates follows punter Jack Fox (Week 3), quarterback Jared Goff (Week 4) and defensive back Brian Branch (Week 6). And it really should be five straight games with a Player of the Week award, since defensive end Aidan Hutchinson was robbed after getting 4.5 sacks in Week 2.

In any case, the Lions seem to finally have a kicker they trust.