| Detroit Free Press
Are Detroit Lions as bad off as we thought? Breaking down Cards win
Dave Birkett and Carlos Monarrez break down what we learned about the Detroit Lions after their win over the Cardinals on Sept. 27, 2020.
Few punters in NFL history have had a debut like Jack Fox.
Fox, the NFL leader in net and total punting, was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for September on Thursday.
In three games, Fox has 13 punts for an average of 53.1 yards. Opponents have just 6 return yards against the Detroit Lions this year, giving Fox a net punting average of 51.1 yards per kick.
Michael Dickson of the Seattle Seahawks ranks second with a net average of 46.2 yards per punt.
While not technically a rookie, Fox, who went undrafted out of Rice in 2019 and spent part of last season on the Lions’ practice squad, had never kicked in a regular-season game until last month.
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“I think the biggest thing for me right now with Jack is we’re three games in,” Lions special teams coordinator Brayden Coombs said. “So I don’t think there’s really any sense yet in talking about what we’ve accomplished. We’re sitting here at 1-2. Me and Jack are kind of on the same page in terms of the more success we have, we’re just going to keep raising the bar.”
Fox, the first Lions punter ever to win Player of the Month honors, joins kicker Matt Prater in picking up awards this week. On Wednesday, Prater was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. The Free Press has started a new digital subscription model. Here’s how you can gain access to our most exclusive Lions content.