GREEN BAY, Wis. — Last Sunday afternoon, Brandon McManus was watching the NFL RedZone channel at home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He likes it because he gets to see all the kicks.
One week later, he was making one of those crucial kicks.
McManus, a career 81.4-percent field-goal kicker through his first 10 seasons in the NFL from 2014-2023, went unsigned for so long because of a sexual assault civil lawsuit against him. The NFL recently cleared McManus of any wrongdoing under its personal conduct policy and the civil lawsuit was resolved, according to McManus’ attorney. The Packers did their due diligence and felt “very, very comfortable” signing the veteran, general manager Brian Gutekunst said earlier in the week. From a football perspective, what he did Sunday showed why.
Undrafted rookie Brayden Narveson played six games with the Packers this season after they claimed him off waivers from the Titans at roster cutdown and missed four field goals from between 40 and 49 yards. Gutekunst said he liked McManus as a kicker in part because he had been in high-pressure situations. So, of course, his first field-goal attempt as a Packer was from 45 yards — Narveson’s iffy range — with a chance to beat the Texans.
Entering the game, McManus was 72-of-84 (85.7 percent) in his career on field goals between 40 and 49 yards. He made his first try, but the Texans iced him. McManus appreciated the Texans calling a timeout so soon before the snap because it gave him a practice kick. He said he wasn’t nervous but was anxious to help the Packers for the first time. After all, these situations are old hat for the former Broncos and Jaguars kicker. According to ESPN Stats & Info, McManus was 8-of-14 in his career before Sunday on field-goal attempts to take the lead with two minutes or fewer remaining in regulation or overtime.
McManus’ second try drifted comfortably inside the left upright. He ran to the wall next to the home tunnel, threw his helmet to the ground and authored his first Lambeau Leap after giving the Packers (5-2) a 24-22 win over Houston (5-2) with no time remaining.
“You’ve got to go into each game understanding it might come down to you,” McManus said. “That’s why I chose this position many moons ago. I love the pressure situations.”
WALK-OFF WINNER!#HOUvsGB pic.twitter.com/pq1xPumwqN
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) October 20, 2024
Before McManus’ game-winning kick on Sunday afternoon came plenty of work. Punter and holder Daniel Whelan said the operation, including long snapper Matt Orzech, took 100 reps snapping and holding during the week and then a couple more pregame. Whelan practiced at home this week catching the snap how McManus likes, setting the ball down and holding it with McManus’ preferred amount of lean, which Whelan said is a little different than all the other kickers he’s held for in Green Bay. There have been eight since Whelan joined the team last year — Parker White, Anders Carlson, Jack Podlesny, James Turner, Alex Hale, Greg Joseph, Narveson and now McManus.
“A little lean on the hashes, laces to the goalposts, right hash down the hash, not crazy,” Whelan said of McManus’ preference. “A little bit picky, but it works.”
“I’m a little older, a little more strict in what I want them to do,” McManus added. “So they did a great job all week.”
Whelan’s hold itself was critical on the game-winner. Orzech’s snap, by his own admission, was “way, way lower” than he wanted, even skimming off the grass. Whelan saved the game, though, and Orzech said he owes Whelan dinner. Not only does special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia work bad ball drills with Whelan to prepare him for situations like these, but Whelan also spent training camp last year, his first in the NFL, practicing his holds in hallways of the team hotel. He and former Packers long snapper Broughton Hatcher did 100 reps of snap and hold each night.
“So it paid off,” Whelan said.
McManus chose to kick off the second half into the wind so that if it came down to him in the fourth quarter, he’d have the wind at his back. His 45-yarder had plenty of distance, which came as no surprise since he hit from 65 yards in that same direction during warmups.
The Packers started the possession at their 30-yard line with 1:44 remaining and one timeout. In eight passes, quarterback Jordan Love and Co. advanced 44 yards with two completions to wide receiver Romeo Doubs, two to tight end Tucker Kraft and one to wideout Dontayvion Wicks. Love last snapped the ball with 15 seconds remaining and hit Doubs for 6 yards on the left side. Since the Texans threw incomplete near the sideline on third-and-15 instead of running the ball the drive prior, they spared the Packers a timeout, which head coach Matt LaFleur used with three seconds left.
McManus hadn’t kicked in Lambeau Field in a game since 2019 with the Broncos, but this situation with the game on the line was nothing new. That’s why Gutekunst wanted him. Whelan said McManus had no emotion, which made him more calm in such a high-stakes situation, too. The GM sought a kicker who had been through the fire before, not an undrafted rookie who was figuring things out and struggling on the go for a team with Super Bowl aspirations. McManus has won a Super Bowl with the Broncos. The last 10 years that prepared McManus for another game-winning attempt paid off. He and the Packers hope it’s a sign of consistency to come.
It’s clear, too, how much McManus’ new teammates appreciate a kicker like him after what they’ve endured the last two seasons with Carlson and Narveson since moving on from Mason Crosby after 16 years. Teammates mobbed McManus after LaFleur gave McManus one of three game balls in the locker room.
We found a way to get it done!#HOUvsGB pic.twitter.com/nx7ijgYZlN
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) October 20, 2024
“We’ve been searching for a kicker for a long time,” defensive tackle Kenny Clark said. “Hopefully, this sticks.”
“We’d seen him all week, so we knew,” running back Josh Jacobs said. “But it’s always different when it’s in the game. It’s always a little anxious. He was kicking before the game and I remember I walked up to him because he does kickoffs and stuff and I was just like, ‘Man, be special today. It’s going to be one of them days where we need you.’ And it just happened to be the biggest play of the game. And he drilled it twice, so that’s a shout-out to him.”
“Just knowing that we’ve got to get that ball to about the 30-yard line and that he’s going to be able to make that kick is huge,” Love said. “I think he came up big for us tonight.”
McManus has no family or friends in Green Bay to celebrate with. “Nobody’s here,” he said, adding that his wife is still in Florida and his dad thought about coming but decided against it. Instead, he’ll hang out with teammates, though he said a lot of them still don’t know his name while some call him “dad” or “uncle” since he’s the oldest player on the team by two years at age 33. He even asked local reporters if there were any good food spots.
McManus hasn’t quite settled into Green Bay yet, but moments like Sunday’s will certainly help him do so.
“I struggled in the beginning of my career,” McManus said. “I was cut three times and traded. It’s the nature of this position. I don’t wish anyone to go through it, but sometimes it does take going through that, missing a couple of kicks, understanding the winds, understanding situations … Every single game-winner, every single field goal, I’m excited to kick and continue to score more points in this league. Grew up watching the games since I was 3 years old going to games. It’s still a dream of mine to be playing in this league.
“What a way to help this team win in my first game here at Lambeau Field.”
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(Photo: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)
