Detroit Lions' Kalif Raymond earns Player of the Week honors after 1st punt return TD

The Detroit Lions keep racking up wins and taking home player of the week of awards.

Return man Kalif Raymond became the fifth Lion to win a player of the week honor Wednesday when he was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week, after returning a punt for a touchdown in last week's win over the New York Jets.

Raymond scored his first career return touchdown on a 47-yard return with 6 minutes left in the first quarter, after the Lions forced a three-and-out when they were stopped on the goal line on the game's opening series.

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Raymond's score was the Lions' only touchdown until late in the fourth quarter, when Jared Goff threw the game-winning TD pass to Brock Wright with 1:49 to play.

The Lions have won six of their past seven games to improve to 7-7. They are a half game out of the final playoff seed in the NFC.

Lions coach Dan Campbell gave Raymond a game ball after Sunday's win and called Raymond, who spent two weeks with the Jets early in his NFL career, the team's "iron man."

"He does everything for us," Campbell said. "He’s been in there with some of the injuries we’ve had at receiver, he’s been in there every day. Every game, every practice, he just goes. He’s selfless, he’s disciplined, he’s a hard worker, he’s smart, he’s productive, he endears himself to his teammates, he’s versatile, he can block, he can play in the slot, he can play outside, he’s got run after catch, he’s a damn good punt returner. I think he’d be a great gunner, too. We want to be smart with how we use him. He does everything for us and he doesn’t bat an eye. He doesn’t whine. He doesn’t complain. It’s never too hard. It’s never this job is too much. He just goes. What do you need me to do and he goes. You can’t have enough of those guys."

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Raymond is the second Lion to win NFC Special Teams Player of the Week this month. Kicker Michael Badgley earned the award after he made four field goals in a Week 13 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown won NFC Offensive Player of the Week after a nine-catch, 116-yard day against the Washington Commanders in Week 2, and Kerby Joseph and Aidan Hutchinson were named NFC Defensive Player of Week in Weeks 9 and 11, respectively.

This is the third time the Lions have had five different player of the week award winners in a single season. They also accomplished the feat in 1993 and 1997.

The Lions also lost a quarterback off their practice squad for the second time in three weeks as Josh Dobbs signed with the Tennessee Titans, his agent Mike McCartney announced on Twitter. In November, Tim Boyle left the Lions' practice squad to sign with the Chicago Bears active roster.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions' Kalif Raymond is Player of the Week for punt return TD