Brandon McManus is hotter than the weather at Green Bay Packers training camp.
McManus made all six field-goal attempts at Monday’s practice. The most noteworthy kick of his training camp wasn’t a 56-yarder he made with plenty to spare. Rather, on Friday, he yelled right as foot connected with ball on a 51-yard attempt. For all the world, it appeared he had missed his first kick in training camp.
Instead?
“Down the middle,” McManus recalled.
McManus is so hot that even his misses are practically perfect. He has attempted 23 field goals during camp. All 23 have been good.
What’s it like to be this hot?
“Ask Scottie Scheffler, I guess. It’s similar,” McManus said of the world’s No. 1-ranked golfer who won this year’s Masters and British Open. “No, I just go out there and do my job. Dan [Whelan, the punter and holder] and Matt [Orzech, the long snapper] make it super-easy for me. The weather’s beautiful right now, so I don’t have many excuses. I just feel extremely comfortable.”
McManus turned 34 at the start of training camp, making him the oldest player on the roster. He has aged like a fine wine. McManus was the answer to the Packers’ kicking prayers last season. Joining the team in Week 7, he made 20-of-21 field-goal attempts, that 95.2 percent leading the NFL.
He’s 100 percent this summer.
“As I continue to play longer and longer – this is my 13th training camp – I’ve really honed in on my technique,” he said. “I still have a powerful leg, but I used to be more of a younger, wilder power leg. Now, I’d say it’s more of a controlled power. And then I’ve really been able to feel where my body is and make sure I’m kicking how I want to.”
How did he go from wild power to controlled power? McManus turned to a different sports analogy.
“Repetition,” he said. “Probably yelling at myself for overswinging and missing kicks in the past. I think it has a lot to do with that, similar to maybe boxers have said controlled aggression. Obviously, you can’t overpunch or extend yourself because you leave yourself open. So, it’s controlled aggression and controlled power. I would say, I’ve been considered an angry kicker in the past. I use anger to help motivate me, so it’s kind of all of that in a box.”
It’s been a night-and-day difference over the last two training camps, when Anders Carlson and a cast of thousands missed one kick after another, raising enormous questions about a position that had been in good hands for so long with Mason Crosby.
“I don’t even think about it. It’s great,” coach Matt LaFleur said of McManus’ reliability.
The expletive-worthy make on Friday is indicative of McManus’ experience. The approach, the length of the stride, the foot – it all has to be right to make a kick. As he enters his 12th season in the NFL, McManus is completely in-tune with every miniscule step along the way.
“I’ve really been able to feel where my body is in the right position kicking and that controlled power,” he said. “Sometimes as you get deeper – the 50-yarders and pushing to 60 – I never intentionally overswing but sometimes you might get too deep on the plant and you’re not able to kick the ball where you want to. It’s really just been staying in that zone with that controlled power and aggression.”
In a process that takes only about a second, McManus is so dialed in that he knows when he’s messed up but also can react in time to fix it. That’s why McManus’ semi-frequent anger has become a joke on the practice field and locker room.
“Dan hears it the most because it’s right there but also Keisean (Nixon) because he’s rushing off the edge,” McManus said with a smile. “It happens more frequently than not. That’s what I was saying at the beginning. As I’ve continued to get older, I really feel where my body is in a certain position. So, as I’m going down, if I feel my body isn’t exactly where I want it to be, I yell out a different profanity word and I’m able to save it in time. It doesn’t happen that often, but it does happen more frequently than one time.
“Almost every time, it’s gone down the middle; that’s why they all laugh at me. Keisean and Dan laugh at me. They think it’s a joke; it’s not. I don’t know how to say it. It’s like golfing. When you’re on a tee shot, there’s guys that almost drop the club because they know they’re not in the right spot. Me, I’m able to save it 99 percent of the time.”
