Using Arena League Football Goal Post Gives Prater Mental Edge For Real Kicks
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK - Detroit Lions kicker Matt Prater first kicked on Arena League Football goal posts, which are about half as wide as those used in NFL games, early in his career with the Denver Broncos.
"When they first brought them out, I wasn't thrilled, because I was like, 'Man, I don't know if I'm going to be able to make any on those,'" Prater said Wednesday after the team's second mandatory minicamp practice. "Now I get upset if I don't put them through there, no matter the distance and everything."
Last season Detroit did not have Arena League goal posts for practice, but thanks to Prater's suggestion, the team does now. Prater worked on the narrower uprights during OTAs and plans to do the same throughout training camp and during in-season practices.
"I warmed up the entire time kicking on those, so then when you go over to the normal uprights, they look huge, where you feel like you should put it right down the middle," Prater said. "Just the mental part, it's nice. During the season and training camp ... when we're kicking team field goals during practice, I hope to wheel those out and not even look at a normal upright until game day."
Prater said the Broncos started using the Arena League goal posts at the suggestion of former long snapper Lonie Paxton, who had seen them used during his years with the New England Patriots. The narrower uprights give kickers a smaller margin for error, and being accustomed to that standard helps when they kick on the normal goal posts.
"Basically like anything, aim small, miss small," Prater said. "[Special teams coordinator Joe] Marciano said this today, it's like throwing a dart at a bull's-eye, and then if you went for the winning throw or whatever, and you're throwing at the whole target now. You practice on those, and then when you come out and you look at the normal uprights, it looks like, 'Oh, I better not miss this, they look super wide.'
"The mental part is huge," Prater continued. "Kicking's all mental. Anybody can go out and kick. It's just who can do it under pressure and in the games and everything. It's just a little mental part where you aim small, miss small, so you come out here and you put them all through that, then you go out, say you mishit a little bit, it's still going to be close to the center of the uprights, even if you miss on those."
Prater joined the Lions last season after missing the first four games of the season on a suspension related to alcohol abuse. He made 21 of his 26 attempts for Detroit in 2014. On kicks of 40 yards or more, Prater was 9 for 13.
