DETROIT – The first one clanged off the upright. The second one didn’t have a chance. The third finished wide left.
This was Alex Henery’s day Sunday as Detroit -- which dropped to an NFL-worst 4-of-12 on field goals -- lost 17-14 to the Buffalo Bills.
And it didn't take long for Henery's job security to become a topic on Twitter. Free agent kicker Jay Feely, who played at the University of Michigan and was cut by Arizona in August, tweeted Sunday evening that he is waiting for the Lions to call. He, along with Matt Prater, would be options if the Lions choose to release Henery.
Waiting for @Lions to call
RT @mtaz23 My only question is.. What the hell is @jayfeely up to these days?
— Jay Feely (@jayfeely) October 5, 2014
Detroit led or was tied the entire game until Dan Carpenter’s decisive 58-yard field goal with four seconds left. That came after Henery missed a 50-yarder with 26 seconds remaining.
“It’s unfortunate. I know Henery feels extremely bad, but hopefully he turns that bad feeling into motivation to working hard and to find a way to make these kicks,” said wide receiver Golden Tate. “Because, to me, that’s one game, when we’re up the whole game and moving the ball the way we are, that’s one game that I think we need to win.
“I just hope that doesn’t come back and bite us later in the season.”
Tate and others offered support for Henery, but kicking has been an issue for the Lions since the preseason, when Nate Freese beat out Giorgio Tavecchio. Then Freese missed four field goals in three games and the Lions cut him for Henery, who has four misses in two games for the team’s 33.3 percentage.
The last time a team started the season this poorly in the kicking game five games into the season was 2009, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made only 2 of 6 field goals. Unlike the Lions, though, the Bucs were 0-5. The Bears were also 2 of 6 through five games in 2005 and were 2-3.
The Lions are 3-2.
Detroit coach Jim Caldwell said he couldn’t explain why the Lions have had their issues with field goals, other than performance. But it appears the coaching staff and front office whiffed twice this season with their kicking decisions.
Six of Detroit’s eight misses have been between 40 and 49 yards. Two have been from 50 yards or longer. Caldwell wouldn’t comment on Prater, who was released by Denver earlier this week, as a potential replacement if the team looks to replace Henery.
“This is the big leagues, plain and simple,” Caldwell said. “If I don’t do my job right, same thing will happen. All of us are called into question in that regard. We’ve got to perform.”
It has cost the Lions, especially with a defense playing well and an offense often driving at least into field goal territory.
“It’s definitely frustrating to leave points out there on the board when you move the ball like we did,” Tate said. “But even today, offensively, we can’t worry about, and we can’t we can’t go into games thinking, ‘All right, what’s the special teams going to be?’
“That’s not our job. That’s the coaching staff and we believe the coaching staff is going to put us in the best position to win and that’s that.”
Tate, in part, said he should have done more on his 55-yard reception that put the Lions in position for the game-winning field goal attempt. It capped a seven-catch, 134-yard day when both Reggie Bush and Calvin Johnson missed portions of the game to injury.
But as well as the offense and defense have played this season, kicking has failed them.
“This is a performance-based league, plain and simple,” Caldwell said. “You’ve got to perform. So anyone that doesn’t, we take a look and see if we can improve that one way or another.
“That’s our obligation to our fans, our team, our organization.”
