You might have missed it, but during the Monday Night Football broadcast, ESPN’s crew claimed that Green Bay Packers kicker Brandon McManus said that this week was the first time he’s been “semi-healthy”
since his quad injury first occurred. That certainly hasn’t been the narrative that the Packers have pushed in recent weeks.
Whenever Green Bay’s coaches have been asked about whether McManus’ misses have been because of the injury, they’ve responded the same way: “Kickers miss kicks.” They’ve insisted that it had nothing to do with an injury, which is apparently different than what ESPN’s broadcast crew was told this week in preparation for the game.
Since returning to action, McManus has missed at least one kick in every game, going four of eight overall. This is starting to matter a lot, considering the Packers’ defense has only given up 13 points per game in their three losses this year. A field goal, which McManus missed in all of those games, would have pushed all of Green Bay’s losses into at least an opportunity to get the ball once in overtime.
On the year, McManus is just 3 of 9 outside of the red zone. We’ll have to look tomorrow when the numbers update, but he’s likely the worst kicker in the league in EPA (expected points added) who still has a job.
Meanwhile, Lucas Havrisik, who set the franchise record for the longest field goal made ever in Packers history with a 61-yarder against the Arizona Cardinals, has been watching the game from the bench.
Despite McManus’ struggles, Green Bay put the game on the kicker’s foot at the end of Week 10’s action. McManus was getting ready to attempt a 64-yard field goal when the Eagles called a timeout. He still managed to get a kick off after the timeout, which fell short of the goal posts.
Then Troy Aikman and Joe Buck told us that McManus hadn’t been “semi-healthy” until this week. On the live attempt, McManus’ kick swung far left and never had a shot at making it between the uprights.
To make matters worse, this was all predictable. Our own rcon14, who attended the game in person today, said that McManus was short in pre-game from 57 yards out. On three other kicks, he hooked kicks to the left. Just like what we saw against the Eagles.
It’s like everyone can see what’s wrong with the team, other than the coaching staff.
