List item On fourth down, the Lions moved the ball up to attempt field goals from about 55-60 yards. Both Michael Badgley and James Turner made the kick.
List item Again, the Lions moved the ball up and both Badgley and Turner knocked through 53-yard kicks. It’s worth noting, again, that Turner’s kick went significantly farther, clearing the goalposts with at least another 10 yards to spare.
Today was the first day that I saw Terrion Arnold and Carlton Davis work as the primary first-team cornerbacks together. Combined with Amik Robertson at nickel, they gave the first-team receivers serious trouble.
Other notable players on the “starters” side of the field during warmups: EDGE Mitchell Agude, who has spent considerable time on that field, and rookie Mekhi Wingo. CFL star Mathieu Betts was back with the reserves after getting some “starter” reps earlier in camp.
One comment in one of the Detroit papers regarding the Badgley Turner battle that isn’t getting the attention that FG’s are; kickoffs.
Apparently Badgley is much better on kickoff’s than Turner; from the Freep:
As far as the kickoffs go, Badgley remains well ahead of Turner in that department, something that could factor into the kicker decision come training camp.
Agree… no reason to keep 2 kickers when Fox has been the kickoff guy.
Good news for kickers is that kicking it higher and long isn’t a helpful thing any longer… so it really comes down to accuracy and distance control now. I would even argue it may be better to kick it lower to give the kickoff team less time to figure out how best to execute their blocking scheme…. and a low kick that makes a returner move laterally could have him catching it running east/west instead of running forward as he catches the ball.
Excellent news. I think Robertson is going to have a lot of new fans by the end of the season. If my DHGate jersey turns out to be nice, he might be next. Get ahead of the curve.