Carlos Monarrez

Detroit Free Press

Detroit Lions kicker Matt Prater knows about teams gearing up for the playoffs. And he says the Lions are doing the right things at the right time.

"I definitely think they're on the right track," Prater said Wednesday. "This team is different from other teams I've been on where there's a lot more chemistry between guys and everyone gets along great.

"And everyone wants to win, and people hold each other accountable, and it seems like everybody's doing the right thing, on and off the field. I think nothing but good things are going to happen the rest of the season."

Prater could have been offering an equal amount of praise for the Lions and a quiet indictment of his former team, the Denver Broncos. He was the most accurate kicker in Broncos history, but he was still released in October before being reinstated from a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy.

With his new team, Prater has steadily improved since his first game of the season in Week 6 at Minnesota, when he missed twice with a 50-yard field goal and a 44-yarder that clanged off the left upright. Prater is 14-for-18 for a 77.8% conversion rate — far below his 82.9% rate in eight seasons with Denver. If not for the Vikings game, Prater would be converting 86.7% of his kicks, which would rank among the NFL's top 20.

Prater credits his improvement to getting more time to work with long snapper Don Muhlbach and holder Sam Martin.

"I think it's just reps, getting more and more work with the guys in practice, and it carries over into the game," he said. "A lot of people don't think about the timing with a new snapper and holder, and that's half the battle. But they've done a great job where it's been easy to pick it up as we've gone along, and hopefully we continue to have success.

"I just wish I didn't have that first game, or else I think I'd be having a good season without that first one."

Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.