The Detroit Lions will be auditioning kickers this week, which should be no surprise.
What we've learned about the NFL is that it is a results-oriented business. Job security is based on results, and the Lions did not get results from kicker Ryan Santoso in Sunday's tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Among the other things we learned from Sunday's game include the following: Based on head coach Dan Campbell's first game calling plays, the Lions will be more of a running team; and tight end T.J. Hockenson's up and down season continues.
We start with the kicker:
The position is a lot like playing on the offensive line. It goes largely unnoticed unless something goes wrong, and something went wrong in a big way in the Lions' 16-16 tie with the Steelers.
Ryan Santoso was kicking in place of Austin Seibert, who went on injured reserve with a hip injury.
Santoso made a 20-yard field goal and an extra point in the fist half, but he missed an extra point after the Lions had scored a TD on the first possession of the second half.
The miss gave the Lions a 16-10 lead instead of 17-10 had he made the extra point.
That missed extra point would loom larger by the minute as the Steelers made two field goals in the second half to make it 16-16.
Santoso had a chance to win it for the Lions but missed badly on a 48-yard field goal attempt with 4:03 left in overtime.
The game ended in a tie.
It was a good, tough performance by the Lions, who were a missed extra point and missed field goal away from wining their first game under Campbell and his staff.
"Everything that puts a black eye on it is the field goal," Campbell said at his Monday press conference. "The extra point and the field goal."
The rainy conditions and the snap and hold had no bearing on either kick, Campbell said. Both were wide right.
"No The procedure was good," he said. "The snap and hold was good. They did a good job with the procedure."
What next?
"We're going to bring some guys in -- work them out," Campbell said. "See who the best man for the job is."
On the run: The numbers speak for themselves for which direction the offense is heading in.
The 39 runs and 229 yards gained rushing are season highs. Next highest was 28 carries for 137 yards in a Week 7 loss to the Rams.
The Lions had 34 carries for 219 yards in regulation time, plus five carries for 10 yards in overtime.
They had 20 pass plays in regulation time, and five more in overtime. They also had pass plays that ended in sacks.
Up and down: Hockenson has had peaks and valleys in his play in the first nine games, and not much else in between.
Sunday's game was one of those valleys. He played 67 snaps, the most of any Lion on offense except for quarterback Jared Goff and the five starters on the offensive line who played all 71.
Hockenson was targeted for only one pass, an incompletion. It was the first time this season that he was held without a catch.
He has 16 catches in the first two games, then only eight in the next three. He came back from that to catch 24 passes in the last three games before the bye.
That put him at 48 catches, with a 100-catch season within reasonable range. And that's where he remains after Sunday.
