By Sunday 
When you’ve watched enough NFL games, you start to feel like you’ve seen every kind of field goal. The booming ones. The wobbly ones. The heartbreaking almost-there ones.
But Jake Bates?
On Sunday, he delivered a kick that didn’t look real even in slow-mo.
The Kick That Looked Wrong Until It Wasn’t
Detroit was staring down the barrel of an ugly loss to a Giants team that had no business leading most of the game. Down three. Twenty-eight seconds left. And Bates lining up a 59-yarder that, let’s be honest, felt like a prayer.
The ball came off his foot and—immediately—every Lions fan’s stomach dropped. It looked pushed, drifting badly to the right. Even the broadcast angle looked like they were filming a miss in progress.
It had “miss” written all over it.
And then, like the football equivalent of a plot twist, the ball curled back left, kissed the inside of the right upright, barely cleared the crossbar, and detonated Ford Field with disbelief.
You don’t see kicks like that. You don’t expect kicks like that. But Jake Bates delivered one right when Detroit needed it most.
The Giants’ Collapse Continues
For New York, this was another chapter in a season-long meltdown that somehow keeps finding new floors. They led almost the entire afternoon—nearly two touchdowns underdogs—and then folded when it mattered. By the time Bates’ kick went through, everyone watching knew:
the coaching change that followed wasn’t a surprise.
Bates Is Heating Up Again
As a rookie last season, Bates hit 89.7% of his kicks. This year? A few too many hiccups. But whatever slump he had seems to be behind him. He’s now 6-for-6 across Detroit’s last three games, and none was bigger than this curveball from the heavens.
A 59-yard game-tying field goal that tricked every pair of eyes watching?
That’s more than clutch.
That’s folklore material.