The Thursday Night Football game between the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys could be the week’s biggest game. With two of the NFL’s most potent offenses vying to keep their playoff hopes alive, this battle could be a shootout. Or, based on the competing strengths of both defenses, one team could prevail to shut down the opposition.
Detroit Lions – Dallas Cowboys Game May Come Down To A Field Goal
Currently, the 7-5 Lions cling to a slim one-game lead over the 6-5-1 Cowboys. However, Dallas has the momentum coming into this game, following a huge 31-28 Thanksgiving win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Meanwhile, the Lions are gasping for breath, caught in the undertow of a devastating flood of injuries. Nonetheless, despite the teams’ offensive firepower and the elite talents of quarterbacks Dak Prescott and Jared Goff, this game could be decided by a long-distance field goal.
Two of the Best Kickers In the NFL
Dallas’ two-time Pro Bowl kicker Brandon Aubrey leads the NFL. Boasting a 91.67% field goal rate, he’s converted 22/24 field goals, including a 64-yarder. The former USFL Birmingham Stallions kicker has missed only one extra point this season, converting 37/38 PATs for 97.4%. Aubrey is most likely headed to a third consecutive Pro Bowl.
In his second season for Detroit, former Michigan Panthers standout Jake Bates is ranked among the NFL’s best. However, given the Lions’ tendency to keep the offense on the field in critical fourth-down situations, he isn’t called upon to kick as frequently. Like Aubrey, Bates can nail long-distance field goals. He currently has five 50-plus-yard kicks this season, including two 58-yarders, and a crunch 59-yard boot against the Giants in Week 12. He’s even more impressive, kicking 40/42 PATs for a 95.2% average.
A Stunning Season for NFL Kickers
Overall, 2025 has been an outstanding year for NFL kickers. Jacksonville Jaguars’ kicker Cam Little shattered the record books with a stunning 68-yarder in Week 9. There are currently seven NFL kickers who have recorded kicks of 60 or more yards this season.
Talented kickers can make field goals look automatic. But in a strange twist, 2025 could also be remembered as the year of the “non-kick.” Recently, NFL fans witnessed the strangest ever field goal attempt when New York Giants’ Younghoe Koo botched a kick. Claiming the ball slipped on the wet surface, Koo pulled up, and his foot hit the turf rather than the ball.
The Science of Kicking Field Goals
Field goal kicking is a science. Accuracy depends on distance, ball placement, wind trajectory, and where the foot hits the ball.
Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp was asked about the dynamics of kicking a football and making it move from left to right. “I think when the ball moves a little bit, the more the ball moves, probably the higher up you’re hitting the ball. The lower you’re hitting the ball, the more it’s just spinning, rotating. But the higher up you hit, the more it moves a little bit left and right. I think the higher up you hit the ball, the lower the trajectory, too, at times… But ball contact, foot contact on the ball, is going to change how it goes or travels….Little right, little left, especially when they’re hitting a hard ball from way back deep. Meaning they’re putting a lot on the kick, not the hardness of the ball, but how hard they’re kicking the ball or putting into the ball from their leg, the more it may move like that a little bit, which obviously, on a long kick, you have to do. So, I would say it was not totally normal but not totally abnormal, either.”
A Winning Field Goal To Decide the Outcome
Earlier this week, Dan Campbell stated the game would come down to fundamentals and everyone doing their job. He told the team, “So, just do your job, handle your business, do it the best you can do it, and be on point. And eliminate those things that require no talent. The discipline, the fundamentals, the technique, you just handle that.”
Despite the loss of so many injured starters, this team has the hunger, determination, and talent to beat Dallas. The team has a history of over-performing when its back is to the wall. A long-distance Bates field goal could very well decide the game. If Detroit emerges with the win, then, depending on the outcome of the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears game on Sunday, the Lions could find themselves right back in the midst of the NFC playoff race.
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