The Packers were handed a brutal loss in the preseason clash vs the Steelers. But rookie kicker Trey Smack was a pleasant surprise, both to fans and special teams coordinator Cam Achord.
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“Cam was telling me no,” Matt LaFleur said about trusting Trey Smack for his first 58-yard attempt, per 247 Sports analyst Eli Berkovits. “I was telling him yes.”
Achord’s hesitance was likely due to Smack not performing as expected in the offseason so far. On August 2, ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reported that Smack made only three of his five field goals. He converted three kicks from 28, 33, and 42 yards, but failed to make attempts from 38 and 45 yards.
But LaFleur might as well pat himself on the back for sticking with his decision.
Smack was successful on all four of his field goals, with two coming from 58 yards away. One was wiped out after the Green Bay Packers chose to accept a penalty instead.
Smack proved that training camp only paints incomplete pictures of a player’s potential. It is only during an actual game, when performance matters. Those three field goals accounted for all nine of the Packers’ points.
Even though one 58-yarder was not counted, Smack made up for it. He connected from 37 yards to give the Packers an early 3-0 lead. His heroics continued on the gridiron as in the third quarter, he made a 38-yard field goal, taking the lead to 9-7 in the third quarter.
The valid 58-yarder would have tied for the second-longest field goal had this been a regular season game.
“He was definitely a bright spot for us,” LaFleur said. “He went out there and delivered. Really, really strong first performance. Now he’s gotta stack on it.”
He might have let out a huge sigh of relief because Green Bay finally found a good kicker after releasing Brandon McManus in May this year, after he struggled last season.
McManus made 24 of 30 field goal attempts and 32 of 33 extra point attempts. His struggles spilled over in the postseason. The former placekicker missed both field goal attempts and an extra point that turned out costly during the Packers’ four-point loss to the Chicago Bears in the Wild Card Game.
While the spotlight is on Smack after the Packers’ loss, the kicker is already locked in for the next challenge.
“I don’t really try to feel relief in this, you know, kind of business because we always got next week,” Smack said in the post-game presser. “We always got to play next week and my mind’s already switched to the Broncos. I think it’ll build some confidence and, you know, every day’s a new day. You got to figure out what kind of ball you’re going to hit that day.”
Time to see whether Smack puts up another heroic feat against the Denver Broncos.