Detroit Lions News: Matt Prater Could Break Team’s Single-Season Scoring Record
By Zac Snyder
Detroit Lions news does some math on Matt Prater‘s scoring rate before taking a look at what else is being said around the web about the team.
The Detroit Lions have won four in a row and Matt Prater has been named the special teams player of the week following three of those wins. Bad memories of Nate Freese and Alex Henery have mostly faded away as kicker has once again become the position of stability the Lions have enjoyed for more than three decades.
Prater’s 16 points scored (five field goals, one extra point) against the Saints set a new single-game personal best and moves him to 101 points scored for the season. 101 points divided by 12 games played and Prater is averaging about 8.4 points per game. Multiply that per game average over a 16 game regular season and Prater is on pace to score fractionally more than 134 points.
The Detroit Lions’ single-season scoring record? 134 points, set by Jason Hanson in 2012. Yes, even at age 42 and his final season in the NFL, Hanson had perhaps the best year of his career.
[side note: DetroitLions.com lists Hanson’s single-season scoring record as 135 points but the math doesn’t check out. Multiple stat references agree Hanson kicked 38 extra points and 32 field goals in 2012. By my math, 38+(32*3)=134 but my engineering degree is only at the undergraduate level. To the Lions’ credit, the media guide correctly lists the record as 134 points.]
The final four games of the Lions’ season have plenty of intrigue at a higher level, but one more thing to watch for is Prater’s chase of the franchise single-season scoring record. There are a lot of ways to come up with the 34 points necessary to break the record, although 34 extra points would be preferable.
Now a look around the web at what else is being said about your favorite football team (assuming it’s the Lions).
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In other news, the Atlanta Falcons agreed to a contract extension with cornerback Robert Alford. He gets a new four-year deal totaling $38 million with $21 million guaranteed. That’s relevant to Lions fans because Alford and Darius Slay were both 2013 second round picks and Slay signed a four-year extension of his own, with the Lions giving Slay $48 million with $23.1 million guaranteed. That’s not much of a premium over Alford. Slay currently ranks as the fourth-best cornerback by Pro Football Focus this season, while Alford ranks 71st. Advantage Lions.