Matt Prater Nearly Breaks the Record for the Longest Field Goal
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During a preseason game between the Detroit Lions and the Buffalo Bills, kicker Matt Prater was on fire! With barely any time on the clock in the first half, Prater stepped up and delivered an almighty 61-yard field goal. Sadly, that would be only of the few highlight for the Lions in their 24-20 loss on Friday night.
The veteran kicker already smashed the top 5 longest field goals in the Lions record books. When asked about that massive kick, he said, “I typically will try to hit a 60-yarder before the game just to get a feel for how it is flying that day. So, I was confident with that, going out there and I came through with it.”
“Kicking is kicking whether it’s the preseason, regular season, playoffs, it’s all kicking between the posts. I try to treat them all the same. I get a little adrenaline before every kick. It’s just fun to get the opportunity to come through with it.”
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Ever since he was included in the Lions squad during the 2014 season, Prater has been instrumental. He also happens to own the NFL record for longest made field goal of 64 yards, back when he was a member of the Denver Broncos.
Matt Prater came three yards short of tying his own record for longest field goal with this 61-yarder 🙌🙌 @Lions pic.twitter.com/Uhc6oXMMuJ
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) August 24, 2019
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It was also worth noting that the Buffalo Bills game witnessed the debut of Matthew Stafford. Sadly, it was not quite the dream debut for the 31-year old as the Lions were tamed by their opponents.
Stafford could only complete 12 of 19 passes for 137 yards and led the first-team offense on two scoring drives. Unfortunately, the Lions lost two of their best players to potentially serious injuries in a 24-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills at Ford Field.
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Linebacker Jarrad Davis suffered a right leg injury on the game’s second play from scrimmage. Later on, in the second quarter, center Frank Ragnow left with a right knee injury midway through the second quarter.
Both players were non-weight-bearing after their injuries and had to be helped off the field by Lions trainers, and Davis was swarmed by concerned teammates before he was carted to the locker room.
Lions coach Matt Patricia said Davis and Ragnow are headed for more testing Saturday, and while he didn’t want to speculate on the nature of the injuries, he said he had no regrets about playing his starters in a mostly meaningless game.
“I think we can argue either side of the coin on all this,” Patricia said. “Hindsight is 20-20. So for us, we try to stick to the plan. We’re looking at reps, we’re looking at numbers, we’re looking at possibilities of when we can get guys out there, when we think they’ve had enough during the course of the week to take a look at it. Guys can get injured during practice, guys can get injured during the game. I mean, it’s football, to some aspects of it. Injuries are part of the game and that’s something that we all have to deal with.”
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