Getty Rodrigo Blankenship celebrates a kick in 2021.
The Detroit Lions lost a close game in Week 3, and a big reason why was due to special teams.
Kicker Austin Seibert was a messy 1-3 on the day including a 54 yard miss in the late stages that could have put the Lions up by six points and perhaps helped along a victory.
Instead, Seibert missed and questions about his job began to swirl, at least in the minds of the media and fans. Dan Campbell, though, quelled that temporarily speaking to the media on Monday, September 26.
Though he missed some kicks, Campbell didn’t seem ready to move on from Seibert, and said he is prepared to give him another look if healthy.
“I’d be willing to give him another go. I mean, you know if I didn’t feel that way I wouldn’t have let him kick there at the end of the game,” Campbell said. “I know he missed the first one but he came back and made the second one and so I felt like he’d make this and it didn’t work out. Now full disclosure, he’s he’s a little bit sore today, so we’ll see what happens with him.”
It might be far too early for the Lions to give up on Seibert completely, but an injury would be another case. Seibert nearly lost his job late last season due to injury, but had a resurgence in camp and the preseason.
It’s clear that the Lions and Campbell still want to see what they can get from Seibert, a player they have liked from the beginning.
Seibert Facing Pressure After Poor Start
Late in the 2021 season, it seemed the Lions had found their future kicker in Riley Patterson. Quickly, that notion was proven not to be the case during camp.
From nearly the jump, Seibert seemed to have a big advantage over Patterson in the mind of the staff, and received most of the first-team reps. It felt as if Patterson never had a great chance to win the job overall outright. Unfortunately for Seibert, fans will remember this fact, especially now that Seibert is 3-5 on the season with some big misses.
Absolute monster game from Austin Seibert today!!
1 field goal made
3 field goals attempted
3/3 XP
Lions may have found their long term place kicker 🔥💯
From now on, Seibert had better hope he is relatively flawless and accurate, or else there’s going to be a significant uproar amongst a fanbase that takes its specialists seriously after enjoying the likes of Jason Hanson and Matt Prater through the years. Many fans were early Patterson loyalists, and felt he deserved a shot again in 2022.
Seibert will remain the guy at kicker, and the staff had better hope they were right to stick with him so he rewards their confidence.
Lions Fans Clamoring for Rodrigo Blankenship
Even though Campbell seems likely to give Seibert another chance, the team’s fanbase hasn’t stopped their desire for a new kicker to come on the scene.
The object of their affection? None other than recently released Indianapolis kicker Rodrigo Blankenship. While Blankenship lost his job for missing pressure kicks as well, that didn’t stop several Lions fans from wanting to see him in the mix.
“The Lions need to at least bring Rodrigo Blankenship in for a look after Seibert goes 1 for 3, right?,” he tweeted.
Others were far more blunt, already predicting Blankenship to be a Lions player soon.
“Rodrigo Blankenship… YOU are a Detroit lion,” he tweeted.
Even though that might not be the case, many simply admitted they are pleading for the Lions to call Blankenship.
“Lions call Rodrigo Blankenship tonight please,” he tweeted.
Blankenship is 45-54 on his NFL career with a long kick of 53 yards. Those numbers are nearly identical to Seibert, who is 44-55 in the NFL with a long of 53 yards.
Whether Blankenship is the right answer or not, several Lions fans just want a new kicker. At this point, though, that might not be the plan for Campbell and the team no matter what name fans might want.