Josh Brown had just finished one of the best seasons of his 10-year NFL kicking career last year.
The coals from the Dec. 29 season-finale tailgate barbecue grills at MetLife Stadium barely cooled when, on Jan. 4, the Giants signed 23-year-old strong-legged Brandon McManus.
Happy New Year.
The Giants, remember, are the same team that chose not to give Brown’s predecessor, Lawrence Tynes, the raise he wanted despite the fact Tynes — literally — kicked them into two Super Bowls.
Three months later, the Giants gave Brown a two-year, $2.5 million contract, but he knows better than to consider that any sort of rock-solid job security.
Brown, who’s 12 years older than McManus, gets it. He understands the deal. He’s in his 11th NFL season and fourth team. He has been an incumbent, spending is first five seasons in Seattle.
He, too, has been out on the street seeking work, going from one tryout to the next.
In this era, unless you are former Super Bowl hero Adam Vinatieri, job stability is as common for kickers in the NFL as windless days at MetLife Stadium or Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, which is to say not very common.
So, on Sunday night in the Giants preseason opener against the Bills in the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio, the 23-of-26 field goals Brown made last season mean little as the competition between him and McManus begins in earnest.
The games — because he has played in so many more of them than McManus — are where Brown believes he should be able to separate himself.
Brown has attempted 310 field goals in his career, making 254 of them for an 81.9 percent success rate.
McManus, who as a rookie last summer was in Colts camp, set Temple career records for points (338) and field goals (60).
Yet he was nothing more than an extra practice leg to lessen Vinatieri’s summer workload. He has just one field goal attempt in a preseason game on his resume — a 55-yarder he made against the Giants in a preseason game last August at MetLife Stadium.
“Practices are going to come into play, but I do believe the games are going to be the deciding factor, and that’s something I have to draw on that he doesn’t,” Brown said. “Going into a game, the pressure is different, perceptions are different, situations are different. So I’m going to have a massive advantage because I’ve been in all these situations.”
Brown holds no malice for McManus, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to beat his brains in on the field and leave coach Tom Coughlin with no doubt about who he wants kicking for the Giants this season.
“It’s cordial,” Brown said of the relationship between him and is younger pursuer. “But there is an understanding that you’re trying to take something from me, and I have three kids you’re trying to take it from, too, so that’s personal. You have keep that chip. Don’t think that that’s not there. We’re not over here hugging each other. But it’s not [McManus’] fault that he’s here. He’s good, and they chose to bring him here. So it’s up to me to be efficient and apply the pressure to him personally.”
That begins with Sunday night’s game, the first of five preseason games the Giants will play because of being a part of the Hall of Fame game.
Brown holds no ill will toward the Giants for what could be perceived as not trusting him by bringing McManus in. What would be the point?
Brown still has to go out and prove himself — regardless of how good his performance was the previous year or how much more experience he has over McManus.
He knows Nick Folk and has seen the Jets bring kickers in the last three offseasons in an effort to push or replace him; despite the fact Folk has had consecutive standout seasons for them. Brown, in fact, is one of those kickers the Jets brought in to try to supplant Folk.
“Eventually it does play on your mind,” Brown said. “I can’t speak for Nick, but if I was in his position and three or four years in a row I’ve got to compete for my job and I’m making the minimum [salary]; I’ve got to think they’re trying to get rid of me, they’re trying to push me out. And the truth is, they were.
“It truly does not matter what you [did]. It’s matter of what you’ve done lately. I had a great year last year and I come into this year with a tremendous amount of confidence. I have no reason to believe that they would want to replace me. My goal is not to give then one.”