Detroit Lions kicker Jake Bates got the meme treatment when ESPN cameras captured him stretching on the sidelines during “Monday Night Football” against the 49ers.
Bates was seen sprawled out on the grᴀss while he made faces with his tongue out in the fourth quarter — before an explosive second half by Detroit sealed a 40-34 win against the home team in Santa Clara.
The internet had a field day with Bates’ sensual stretch routine, which was later explained by ESPN sideline reporter Lisa Salters.
“He’s OK now, he hasn’t gotten any treatment from the medical staff,” Salters said amidst the Lions’ comeback at Levi’s Stadium. “But he was on his left hip, he had a softball.”
Salters explained that Bates looked like he was stretching a knot in his hip with a softball.
“I asked him how he was doing, he said he was fine,” Salters said.
ESPN broadcasters Troy Aikman and Joe Buck couldn’t help but laugh at the moment.
“That explains the video we just showed, he’s weighing on something,” Aikman said.
Some likened Bates’ demeanor to a scene from the sitcom “Seinfeld,” in which George Costanza posed in his underwear for a pH๏τoshoot.
Others made references to Kate Winslet asking Leonardo DiCaprio to “draw me like one of your French girls” in the famed “тιтanic” scene.
Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Bates’ stretches paid off.
He kicked a 42-yard field goal moments later — his second after he cleared a 57-yarder earlier in the game.
The Lions scored on five consecutive drives in the second half to rally back to beat the 49ers.
They face the Vikings in Sunday’s regular-season finale with the No. 1 seed in the NFC on the line.
