Acme Packing Company
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur sent fans into a tizzy on Thursday during his morning press conference before the team’s practice. He revealed to the media that Packers kicker Brandon McManus injured his quad in practice on Wednesday, and phrased the injury as “a major concern right now.”
Evidently, McManus did not get the memo. The 34-year-old kicker spoke in a media scrum in the locker room after Thursday’s practice and seems optimistic about his trajectory:
If you’re feeling a bit of whiplash from these comments, you’re not alone. LaFleur and McManus made their very different statements just hours apart, but the kicker’s own words should put Packers fans better at ease about the state of the kicking game, which was particularly notable in the last meeting between these two teams four years ago.
So far this season, McManus is 7-for-9 on field goals and 11-for-12 on extra points. However, only one of those three misses was a true miss, with the other two being blocked — the Browns swatted down a field goal attempt late in Week 3 and the Cowboys stuffed a PAT and scored a two-point conversion the following Sunday. On the other hand, McManus has gone 2-for-2 from 50-plus, including a 53-yarder to send the Cowboys game into overtime.
Sudden changes in injury status are nothing new to fans of Wisconsin sports fans this week. Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio left game 1 of his team’s NL Division Series against the Chicago Cubs with hamstring tightness and was feared out for the series, but he was back in the leadoff spot and playing left field two days later in game 2.
Hopefully a bit of home cooking over the weekend will have McManus ready to conduct his normal duties this Sunday. Still, even if he does suit up, Rich Bisaccia’s coverage teams would do well to keep their kicker from having to make multiple tackles like he did against the Cowboys.
