'Small Victories': Lions Remain Confident in Jake Bates

Dan Campbell reacts to Jake Bates first preseason game.

Detroit Lions kicker Jake Bates / Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Detroit Lions coaching staff informed kicker Jake Bates they are sticking with him, despite a rocky week of practice when the pads came on.

With fans in attendance, the former UFL standout had a couple of shaky practices that included misses from distances that are expected to be makes. The intermediate distances gave him trouble, as he had multiple misses inside 50 yards.

Despite bumps in the road, Bates had an opportunity against the New York Giants to kick a field goal north of 50-yards in blistery conditions on the road.

A 53-yard make should bode well for the former Michigan Panthers kicker.

“Anytime you, you know, it’s like small victories, right? That’s how you gain confidence, is demonstrated ability to do it," said coach Dan Campbell, when asked about Bates making from long distance. "We told him after we scrimmaged the other day, ‘Hey, we’re sticking with you, we’ll give you a chance to grow here and we’ll see how you respond.’ He was told that, I told him, (Dave) Fipp told him. So, I thought it was encouraging, the last two days and then tonight, for him to step up and hit that.” 

Rocky start to new kickoff

While making the kick was a plus, Bates did not land the football in the appropriate zone, resulting in a penalty and the football being placed all the way out to the 40-yard line.

Campbell noted Michael Badgley could have been suited to execute well under the new format. Unfortunately, Badgley suffered a season-ending injury during camp.

“It is definitely part of that. It’s different. You know, Badge had, he was really kind of perfect for this new kickoff rule with just where you want to place it and the leg strength itself is not the most important thing when you talk about placement on this new kickoff," said Campbell. "It’s different, it’s just gonna be different for Jake.

"He’s been working with it and he’s been working at some of these kicks and he’s gotten better. He just mis-hit the ball. He just mis-hit it," Campbell continued. "That’s one of those where you learn from it, because it’s critical. You take the ball at the 40-yard line, that’s huge, that’s a huge play. We’ll keep working with it.”