Maybe the Detroit Lions had a secret punting weapon in Matt Prater all along. Once upon a time, Prater led NCAA Division I in punting when he averaged 47.95 yards per punt as a Central Florida sophomore in 2003.

Of course, Prater is now in his 11th NFL season as a kicker — but Sunday marked his first NFL punting attempts. He was pressed into emergency duties when Kasey Redfern suffered a knee injury early in the first quarter after he fumbled a snap in the back of his end zone and got tackled running the ball.

Prater downplayed his punting prowess and said he just didn’t want to screw anything up. He even got a sideline little pep talk of sorts from punter Sam Martin, who is on the non-football injury list for the first six weeks of the season.

“I think he was basically just telling me, ‘Don’t screw up, and if you screw up, we’re going to probably cut you,’ ” Prater said with smile. “Just things like that to help motivate me.”

Prater punted well four times in Sunday's 35-23 win over the Cardinals. He averaged 34.8 yards and even snuck a roller all the way down to the Arizona 6-yard line.

Besides that, Prater also had to take over kickoff duties and his usual field-goal duties, which included a 58-yarder that cut the Lions’ deficit to 10-9 heading into halftime. Prater said he practices punting only “occasionally.”

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“You don’t really prepare for it,” Prater said. “So, I’m going to definitely have a few ice bags on my leg later on tonight just from punting the ball. It’s a different leg swing and it just — a punt feels different. Probably be sore, more sore, tomorrow.”

Coach Jim Caldwell said Redfern suffered a “significant injury.” With Martin still on NFI, the Lions are expected to sign a replacement for Redfern this week.

In and out As a bit of a surprise, starting cornerback Nevin Lawson split series fairly evenly with D.J. Hayden. Lawson was the starter last year and had played almost exclusively with the first team through training camp and the exhibition season.

Lawson started the game and said he knew he would be rotating with Hayden. Lawson didn’t struggle noticeably, although he was flagged for a benign pass-interference call.

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Lawson declined to say why he was moved into a rotation.

“Yeah, you can ask Coach Caldwell and our D-coordinator,” Lawson said. “Only thing I can do is just show up and play, man. Every time I’m out there, I’ve just got to go out there and do my thing. Be productive, do my assignment and play.”

Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez. Download our free Lions Xtra app on your Apple and Android devices.