Posted on August 7, 2016, by Travis Pulver
New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall recently tried to call out Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown with a bet on who would have the most receiving yards this season. Winner gets the other’s luxury car, Marshall’s Porsche versus Brown’s Bentley. As far as the world knows, Brown is willing to put up his car and his just waiting on Marshall to call him and make it official.
Brandon Marshall is not the only player that has made a performance-based bet waiting for the other player to accept. Denver Broncos kicker Brandon McManus has challenged Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker to put his money where his mouth is.
Sign up for a FREE Consultation to start working with Legendary Sports Bettor Jon Price
What did Tucker say? He claimed that he could kick an 85-yard field goal in Denver:
“If conditions are prime — like last season, we opened up in Denver, the weather was warm, and the field was nice, you’re up in altitude, so the ball just carries and in pregame I hit the cross bar from 85,” Tucker said via (CBSSports). “So if the situation is just prime, maybe 84 and a half yards.”
Should the opportunity ever arise, and he actually does boot he ball through the uprights, he will shatter the current record of 64-yards (set by former Broncos kicker Matt Prater in December 2013 against the Tennessee Titans in Denver).
Of course, saying you can do it and doing it are two different things. What coach in his right mind would even consider allowing a player to attempt such a kick? If it gets blocked or if the snap gets bobbled, it would be easy for the opposing team to return it for a touchdown. No coach that wants to keep his job is ever going to allow a kicker to attempt such a kick.
Maybe that’s why Tucker made the claim; because he knows he’ll never actually have to do it. But now he’s been challenged by another kicker to prove he’s a good as he thinks he is.
Denver kicker Brandon McManus has challenged Tucker to come to Denver and make the kick:
“I will give him an all-expense paid trip if he can do it,” McManus said on Thursday, via 9news.com. “I’ll pay for his flight, his hotel, if he wants to come out here and do it. I’ll kick with him, I’ll witness it, and I’ll vouch to the world that he can do it.”
McManus went on to say he never saw Tucker hit the crossbar last year but did see him make some kicks in the mid-70s during warm-ups. However, they were so low they would have been blocked.
Wow—an all-expense paid trip to Denver, Colorado! However, if he doesn’t make it, Tucker has to pay for the trip himself. That doesn’t sound like much incentive. Nothing against Denver—it’s a lovely city—but couldn’t he come up with a better prize than a trip to a city Tucker has been to before? Or is McManus banking on Tucker being so prideful and arrogant that he will be willing to spend a few hundred dollars to be potentially proven wrong?
Tucker just signed a nice, new contract so he could easily afford the trip—but what does he have to gain from accepting McManus’ challenge?
Nothing.
You could say he gains a little credibility by following through on his claim, but who cares about an overconfident kicker?
No one.
In fact, wouldn’t be better for the Ravens if Tucker remained overconfident and didn’t have his bubble burst?