Turning point: Lions turn down field goal, gift Patriots a touchdown

Midway through the second quarter, it felt like the Patriots were in command even though they only led 6-0. They had moved the ball fairly well with rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe but struggled in the redzone having to settle for two Nick Folk field goals. While the offense had sputtered, the defense had set the tone from the first possession of the game when they stopped the Lions on fourth and short, and followed that up with an interception from Jack Jones. As the Lions were on the move yet again, the defense came up big on back-to-back plays for this week’s turning point.

Trailing 6-0, the Lions started their drive at midfield after Zappe messed up and hit receiver Nelson Agholor in the hands (that guy on the news in Philadelphia knew what he was talking about). Even after an offensive holding penalty put the Lions in third and 13, Jared Goff was able to complete a pass for 20 yards to move the chains and put the Lions on the cusp of field goal range. Back-to-back runs by Jamaal Williams brought up third and two at the Patriots 25-yard line and it looked the Lions were poised to score some points.

While Patriots fans were monitoring news regarding the status of Mac Jones during the week, underrated roster moves were taking place in Detroit with their kicking situation. Regular kicker Austin Seibert, who has struggled in his return from injury, was waived. His replacement, Dominik Eberle, was cut after he missed two extra points and sent a kickoff out of bounds. That brought them to their third kicker of the season, Michael “Money Badger” Badgley. Badgley had some success with the Los Angeles Chargers earlier in his career and had just gone 4-4 on field goals last week as a replacement for the Chicago Bears, but was making his Lions debut.

Facing a third and two at the 25, the Lions called for their third consecutive run, but a pitch to Craig Reynolds was read perfectly by Adrian Phillips and went for a loss of seven yards. Detroit head coach Dan Campbell stood by the call in his post-game press conference saying that it was a good call but the loss of seven was the result of a mental error by the players. I guess the next play was a mental error by the coaches.

Deciding between a 50-yard field goal and fourth and nine, Campbell decided to go for it. Badgley has a career-long of 59 yards and a field goal would’ve made it 6-3. Instead, he put the ball in the hands of Goff against a defense that shut down the league’s highest scoring offense so far. The Patriots brought pressure and Matthew Judon was able to force a fumble which Kyle Dugger picked up and took 59 yards to the house for a touchdown, making it 13-0.

The Patriots would never look back as they notched a shutout, the 31st in franchise history and 14th under Bill Belichick. They also became the first team in NFL history to force an opponent to go 0-6 on fourth down and none turned the tide quite like Dugger’s scoop-and-score.