Meet Alex Henery. An honourable young man, by all accounts, Alex is from Omaha, NE and he attended the University of Nebraska where he earned a degree in Construction Management. He also earned a Community Service Award while in university for his work volunteering at local hospitals. As the Cornhuskers place-kicker, he ended his college career as the most accurate place-kicker in NCAA history. This was presumably one of the reasons why the Philadelphia Eagles drafted him 120th overall in the fourth round of the 2011 NFL draft. The Eagles obviously changed their mind about Alex as they released him on August 30th, near the end of this year's training camp. The Detroit Lions signed him on September 22nd, three full weeks into the regular season.
Alex Henery missed all three field goals which he attempted in yesterday's game against the Bills. He hit the goal post on one of them and hooked the other two badly to his left. The attempts were long by NFL standards (47, 50 and 50 yards) but in the indoor confines of Ford Field, the Lions home field where the game was played, an NFL kicker would be expected to make at least one of those. It must have been particularly painful for him to watch his counterpart, Bills kicker Dan Carpenter, win the game for Buffalo on a 58 yard kick in the game's final seconds, his third successful kick of four attempts yesterday. Carpenter himself, also from Omaha, NE, was released by the Miami Dolphins in 2013 after five seasons with them and was signed by the Bills just before the start of last season as an injury replacement for Dustin Hopkins. He has been one of the best kickers in the league over the course of last season and the first five games this year. As for Alex Henery, he may be about to pursue a career in construction management a little sooner than he expected.
The other compelling story from yesterday's game was the play of Bills quarterback Kyle Orton. Orton, a late pre-season signing, had never taken a snap for the Bills and his rustiness showed early on. His errant pass in the second quarter was intercepted and run back for a Detroit touchdown to give the Lions a 14-0 lead and, at that point, I wondered if we might see EJ Manuel in the second half. But Orton kept improving as the game went on and, when he hit Marquise Goodwin for a long gain to the Detroit two yard line to set up what was the tying touchdown, I thought at that moment that Bills coach Doug Marrone had made the right call in giving him the start yesterday.
Jim Schwartz must have enjoyed being carried off the field on the shoulders of his defensive players after yesterday's game. After serving as the Lions head coach for five years before being fired after the 2013 season, the Bills defense made his homecoming a sweet one by playing extremely well for him, holding the Lions to one offensive touchdown. And Sammy Watkins made a couple of acrobatic catches which made a huge difference.
A strange note from yesterday's game: The Bills have filed a complaint with the league about laser pointers being shined in some of their players eyes during the game. Up Next: The Patriots come to Orchard Park. I will put our Thanksgiving turkey in the oven at halftime.
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