Why Austin Seibert Leads Riley Patterson in Lions Kicking Battle
NFL kickers are a unique group of athletes.
A slight change in routine, health or technique can mess with a kickers confidence.
Back in the spring, Detroit Lions kicker Austin Seibert noticed his kicks did not come off of his foot with the same force he was accustomed to during his career.
After joining the Lions last September following a stint with the Cincinnati Bengals, Seibert went 10-for-12 on field goals with a long of 52 yards. He also successfully made all five of his extra point attempts.
Unfortunately, he was placed on injured reserve in November with a hip injury that needed surgery. Riley Patterson finished the season as the team's kicker.
Now, Seibert is in a camp battle with Patterson for the Lions kicking job.
Through the first 10 days of training camp, Seibert has been quite consistent, making nearly all of his kicks in practice.
On Saturday, Seibert even nailed a 62-yarder. Patterson has been performing well, but has been more inconsistent with missed kicks popping up at practice.
"I feel really good right now, probably the strongest I've been bouncing back from that," Seibert said, via the Free Press. "It's just been a lot of hard work and whatnot, but the training staff here has been awesome and has really helped me. Just getting everything else kind of cleaned up and making sure I'm staying healthy is kind of the main thing right now."
Special teams coordinator Dave Fipp gave reporters insight this week regarding the camp battle between the kicker and what does into his evaluation process.
“Like I tell those players, everything goes into it. I’m watching everything -- how they warmup, how they kick in practice warming up, how they kick in the live periods, how they kick when we go into the stadium, how they kick on gamedays," Fipp explained. "What they have done in the past also counts. I would say everything. I hate to use the line, ‘The total body of work,’ but I mean it really is true.
"I think that kickers are going to have good days and not as good days. Guys are going to miss. It’s ultimately not going to come down to the numbers of the makes and the misses in any one training camp or anything like that."
Patterson went 13-for-14 in 2021 and made all 16 extra point attempts after joining the team from the New England Patriots.
"The one thing I would say is I do feel really fortunate because a year ago we were in a totally different spot looking for guys. I feel like we have two guys who can definitely play in the National Football League right now here in this building," Fipp said. "I think they had a great offseason. They’re really committed players. Football is really important to both of them. They have great work ethic, they’re great people, and teammates really like them, both of them. I feel really good with where we’re at, and ultimately now it kind of makes our job easy. We just sit back and watch and kind of see where they go from here.”
