By Jordan Long
The Denver Broncos are ready to take on the Buffalo Bills tomorrow. Kick-off is at 2:30 Mountain Time. Denver looks to improve on their 5-8 record. They will have to do it without kicker Brandon McManus.
McManus has been the Broncos kicker since 2014. This year he has been pretty automatic with kicks. When Denver drives past the opponents’ 40 yard-line they know they are almost in range for McManus. He has made 91.7% of his kicks this year. From 20 to 49 yards, McManus is a perfect 14-14. When it comes to the long range kicks from 50+ yards, he is 8 for 10 or 80%. His long this year is 58 yards. For the year McManus is 22 of 24.
PAT’s haven’t been as certain for the football to go through the uprights. Last week he missed 2 PAT’s. Luckily, those didn’t cost Denver the game as they beat the Carolina Panthers 32-27. This year he is 21 for 24 in PAT’s.
McManus can’t play on Saturday because he has been placed on the COVID-19 list. He was in close contact with somebody who tested positive. Denver luckily has a kicker on the practice squad to avoid either going for it on 4th down when they are in field goal range or sending out punter Sam Martin to try to nail field goals. Taylor Russolino will be the kicker.
According to broncoswire.usatoday.com, Head Coach Vic Fangio said, “He kicked very well yesterday in practice. I was very encouraged by what he did in practice yesterday. If he kicks as good as he did yesterday in practice, we’ll be fine.”
Russolino hasn’t kicked in the NFL. He has experience in the Canadian Football league as well as the now defunct XFL. In the XFL, which folded because of COVID-19, Russolino played for the St. Louis Battlehawks. He was 9 of 10 in field goals with a long of 58. Those were pretty good numbers even if it wasn’t the NFL level.
Russolino has his chance to show the Broncos and the rest of the NFL what he can do on Saturday. If he kicks well, it could be an audition for another NFL franchise in 2021. The worst case is he struggles, but at least Russolino will have played in an NFL game. Hopefully, for the Broncos, he can nail kicks and not give the Buffalo Bills decent field position to start drives.
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