Can't fake this: Rams won the coaching battle, too
Coming off a bye week, you'd expect the Lions to be the ones pulling off a perfectly-executed fake field goal Sunday. Instead, they were the ones who looked completely unprepared. And that's just one more reason Stan Kwan's job probably is in jeopardy at the end of the season.
On a day where the coverage units finally did their job -- Zack Follett's thunderous hit was arguably the Lions biggest highlight Sunday -- Kwan's unit still managed to give up points.
On fourth-and-8 from the Detroit 36, the Rams initially lined up to go for it. But quarterback Marc Bulger called a timeout -- he said receiver Danny Amendola was confused about what route he was supposed to run -- and then the Rams changed their mind, sending out Josh Brown and the kicking team.
"Just a lucky guess, I guess," Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo said.
But it was more than that. Studying film last week to prepare for the Lions, the Rams -- and special teams coaches Tom McMahon and Darius Swinton -- had found a tendency or two.
"They saw something," Spagnuolo said. "Tom's always knocking on my door saying, 'We got it, we got it,' during the week. So we just felt like if we got the opportunity, we'd give it a shot."
Sunday, they called their shot -- and made it. Holder Donnie Jones took the snap, pitched it to Brown, and Brown tossed a wobbly pass to tight end Daniel Fells, who raced 36 yards for the touchdown, shaking off a would-be tackle by Cliff Avril along the sideline. (Ko Simpson jogging in pursuit after the pass went overhead probably won't look too good in film study Monday.)
"I'd like to tell you that was well thought-out, but it was during the time-out that we just made the decision that, 'Hey, we think we can get it,'" said Spagnuolo, whose team took a 10-2 lead with 54 seconds left in the half.
Lions coach Jim Schwartz didn't have much of a defense for his team getting burned on the play. Brown attempting a 54-yarder was believable, he said, and he's right about that -- Brown already has a couple 50-yarders this season. But on the heels of a would-be fourth-down play by the offense, antennae should've been raised, no?
"We got probably too aggressive there," Schwartz said. "They had a good call on for what we had, and they executed the play. ... Give them credit. They had a good call on right there. They executed. We didn't."
