DETROIT — It wasn’t one of those 60-plus yarders that Jake Bates made his name with last year from the Michigan Panthers to the Detroit Lions. But Bates answered the call, hitting a late field goal to send the Lions into overtime, where they eventually beat the Los Angeles Rams 26-20 in Week 1 action.

Bates made both his field goal and two extra-point attempts, getting off to a strong start after a month of mixed fortunes as the team’s only kicker on the roster. The Lions have continued to preach their belief in Bates’ potential and continued growth, despite his hiccups along the way. That belief means something to the young kicker who played in this stadium this calendar year for the Michigan Panthers.

He said the team saw the potential in his game and allowed him to grow, which was “super humbling and something I don’t take lightly.”

“It was a lot of fun, the atmosphere was definitely unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, so that was really cool to see,” Bates said after the game. “Really, that last kick was just ‘do my job.’ I know Hogan (Hatten) and Jack (Fox) are going to do their job and do it at a really high level to make it as easy as possible for me. And that’s it. I’m really strong in my faith. I think God puts you in certain places at certain times for certain reasons, and I’m so happy to be a Lion now.

“I’m super excited about anything I can do to help this team win. Hopefully we can continue to build on this and turn one team into two.”

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Bates said he feels the pressure because he’s human, but joked that these moments and kicks make his mother feel more like a parent than he does. The word of the week for the young kicker is “gratitude,” and he hopes this is just the beginning of moments like this.

Check out more footage from inside the locker room following Detroit’s season-opening win against the Rams below:

Opening statement from Lions head coach Dan Campbell: “Okay, start here. Man, I give that team a lot of credit, what Sean (McVay) did with that team, getting them here. I thought they had a great game plan, they adapted well to some of the things we put in front of them, and they just kept coming, they fought, they fought. I respect that, I really do. That quarterback, Stafford, played great, and played hard, and just kept stepping up and making unbelievable throws. I just give them a lot of credit. They did, they fought, now. But we’re tough to break, so we did what we had to do.”

Rams head coach Sean McVay on Matthew Stafford’s performance: “Yeah, he’s a great guy, he kept us in the game, he did a great job and you could just see his resilience. There were a lot of reasons to think, ‘Man, this is going to be a really tough climb,’ to overcome some of the different things, you know, players that we were missing, and what that regulated us, if you will, in terms of what we could really do. They did some things, you give (Lions defensive coordinator) (Aaron) Glenn a lot of credit, they decided to come out and match us in a certain personnel on early downs, that they basically challenged you to say, ‘Okay, you’re going to throw it to beat us,’ and so I was proud of Matthew (Stafford). We had our chances, and there’s definitely some things, you know, I’m always going to look at myself first, okay what are some of the different decisions, better spots that I can put guys, and our players will do the same thing when there were some opportunities, but there was a lot of positives to take away as well. I loved Matthew.”

Lions QB Jared Goff on Amon-Ra St. Brown’s quiet night: “Yeah, I don’t know if they did anything specific. I think the theme tonight was we kept shooting ourselves in the foot a little bit, especially offensively. We had some plays there that we could have had and I’ve got to be better with the cadence for our guys and be a little more fluid with the operational stuff, and that alone would solve a lot of the issues that we had tonight. But it just wasn’t our smoothest, but a win is a win. We’ve got to be happy with it.”

Stafford on losing another close game in Detroit: “Yeah, I think it comes back to the last time we came here, similar conditions, and the fact that we didn’t get enough points in the red zone. Obviously, right before halftime, I had a really nice drive, I lost the ball. I don’t hate the call, I just don’t like the ball that I threw. Higher and harder probably gets us a touchdown and a better spot, but that was a tough one. We’re not getting points. We had another chance, went for it on fourth down, didn’t come away with points, and then we got to the one-yard line and settled for three. So that was kind of the name of the game for us. We had our chances, we didn’t capitalize on them and yet, at the end of the game, if I can get that ball to Cooper (Kupp), we were just kind of on different pages about where we were going in that one and totally understood what he was doing. It’s part of the game. It’s a game of football. Humbling, but fun to be a part of.”

Stafford on the fan reactions to his and Goff’s return: “That’s me, yes. Fine by me.”

Lions WR Jameson Williams on his bond with his team: “That was really for me. I think the team too, and Goff, you know, we’ve really connected over the spring and summer. We threw a couple times in practice, we threw a couple times in L.A. So it just translated, and the hard work is finally showing. Now we’re meeting the whole team. That was a tough game to win. The Rams were a good team, and the defense helped a lot, special teams, everybody came together. We just played until the last second of the game. So I would say it feels good to know that the hard work is paying off, but we’ve got a lot more to go.”

Campbell’s comment on the double whammy of Jahmyr Gibbs and Montgomery: “Yeah, I mean, look, that’s going to help, and I believe in that, that one-two punch from two different backs. But I, look, I just said it after we did the fitness test, and whatever that was, July 26th, I think. The day before we started our first practice and he was, he was just, man, you’re talking about a guy that was in great shape. Look, all of our guys were, but this guy just looked, I mean, he looked like he didn’t sweat for this thing, and the first couple days of practice he didn’t look tired. And so he’s in unbelievable shape, he’s worked extremely hard, and he’s just reliable. He’s reliable. He runs heavy, he’s tough, he’s physical, he’s getting in a rhythm, and I think he’s a catalyst for us. He’s starting to wear it, and he’s getting better and better, and I think the line feeds off of him, and he feeds off of them, and we get what we get. The guy’s a top guy, he’s a top guy.”