Getty Jack Fox shakes hands with Riley Patterson during a Lions game in 2022.
With a 3-13-1 record, the Detroit Lions struggled more than a bit in the 2021 season, but one of the spots on the field that they did not see much struggle was on special teams.
Detroit has one of the best punters in the league in Jack Fox, a solid young kicker and a snapper that figures to be around a while himself. All of that adds up to one of the better special teams units in football being in Detroit once again after the conclusion of the 2021 season.
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Recently, veteran writer Rick Gosselin of the Talk of Fame Network put together his annual list running down the best special teams groups in football. Buoyed by Fox, it isn’t surprising to see the Lions on the list. The team had a top 10 ranking, coming in at seventh overall. The Lions scored 310.5 points in Gosselin’s ranking system, and as he pointed out, the Lions were just one of four teams not to suffer a negative play on special teams, a major tribute given some of the new blood they were working with.
All in all, this was a huge feather in the cap of Dave Fipp in his first year coaching the team. He deserves credit for seeing a group have many changes and yet keeping them as elite as they have looked in previous seasons on the field.
Fipp Helping to Keep Lions’ Special Teams Solid
Last season, the Lions added major experience to the staff in the form of Fipp, who left Philadelphia after a coaching change when some of their staff member were allowed to look around. Fipp quickly signed on with the Lions and Dan Campbell. His career has been a lengthy one. From 2008-2010, he was an assistant special teams coach in San Francisco. Come 2011, Fipp moved on to the Miami Dolphins where he stayed until 2012 with the same title and connected with Campbell initially. In 2013, he started in Philadelphia as special teams coach and presided over a run there which culminated in Super Bowl LII.
Part of Fipp’s genius was also that he set up some fantastic fake punts in 2021 as in these plays:
Fipp has been a decent special teams coach in the league, and his group’s struggles in Philadelphia during the 2020 season were more due to injuries and a lineup which was far from certain week-to-week. That much was proven true by Detroit’s solid work with special teams during this past season.
Detroit’s Special Teams Solid During 2021
Fipp hardly walked into a bad situation in Detroit with regards to special teams. It’s ironic that quite possibly, the best thing about the 2020 and 2021 Lions were the special teams. The Lions look to have developed one of the NFL’s next best punters in Jack Fox. While the team moved on from Matt Prater and struggled to replace him early, a potential young option has emerged in Riley Patterson. After emerging from the safety room on defense, Godwin Igwebuike had a nice season as a returner on kickoffs, and the same can be said about Kalif Raymond on punts. Long snapper. Each should strongly be in play for roles in 2022. The Lions are positioned well with Fox, and the same could be said about Patterson and Igwebuike in terms of their new roles on the roster which they earned. Snapper Scott Daly has stepped in for Don Muhlbach in perfect fashion.
Special teams was hardly the problem for Detroit last year, and these metrics only seem to prove that point more in the end. Once again, give the Lions credit for being a solid group on the field and give Fipp credit for making it happen in his first year as coordinator.
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Lions Special Teams Again Rates out as One of NFL’s Best for 2021