Quote:
The Lions' kicker, Michael Badgley, was cut by the team in the summer in favor of Riley Patterson. Only when Patterson began to struggle did they sign Badgley back to the practice squad and then elevate him to the active roster.
There's a reason Badgley was available to be signed in mid-December: He's not overly reliable.
Yes, he made an important kick in the win over the Rams, but that was in a dome in front of his home crowd. Badgley had more missed extra points during the regular season than field goal attempts longer than 40 yards.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/gamelog/_/id/3123052/michael-badgleyReg Season (starting 12/16 for him)
100% on FG's, 4-4, LNG 41 in Dallas
86.7% XP, 13 - 15
Post Season
100% on FG's, 3-3, Dist 54, 23, 21, Lng in San Diego
100% XP, 11-11
Hard to paint him as a bad FG kicker since he came back, but his 100% made average is likely due in part to lack of attempts. I guess I could understand why Dan opted to go for it both times. But I still think not kicking the 1st one was an unnecessary risk at the time. Unfortunate that the pass was dropped.
Still a great season for them. And he has done for the Lions in just a few years what the Cowboys and Texans haven't done in 20+ years (don't know stat) in getting to this game. That says alot.
I really wanted to see them win, hence my criticism last night.