As most full-season NFL records go, December or January are the months when a new record is, or isn’t, set. (Possibly with a dive from Brett Favre.) One player has set a new NFL record, and it’s still September.
Lions kicker Matt Prater has made in only three games four field goals of 55 yards or longer. The prior record was three. For a full season.
Then-rookies Blair Walsh and Greg Zuerlein did it in 2012. Before that, Hall of Famer Morten Anderson accomplished it in 1995. Fred Steinfort became the first player to do it in 1980.
Prater made a 55-yard and a 57-yard field goal in Sunday’s loss to the Falcons, two of four field goals that he made on the day. While it wasn’t enough to beat out Eagles rookie kicker Jake Elliott for NFC special-teams player of the week honors, Prater is well on his way to being the NFL’s special-teams player of the month for September.