Jane Kaczmarek Has Notes for McManus

Jane Kaczmarek is on the show and she has notes. Specifically, she has notes for Packers kicker Brandon McManus, and she wants to hang him by his ankles.

Her complaint is specific. She wants to know why McManus missed two extra points. A high school kid can make an extra point. That, to a lifelong Packers fan, is not complicated.

From there she lights up the rest of Green Bay's sideline too. Matt LaFleur survives on a compliment. Handsome devil. She is clear about who she does not like. Craig Counsel, former Brewers manager, who left for the Cubs. Didn't see that smoke coming, but Counsel caught strays anyway.

Rich pivots to what is actually a thoughtful conversation about football. Kaczmarek admits she grew up with Vince Lombardi as the image of the game, where you figured it was mostly running into each other and yelling hut hut.

She has had a conversion. After actually paying attention to the modern game, she is in awe of the skill, timing, and intellect required to play professionally. She told Rusty, her husband, that these guys have to really pay attention out there.

And she is not wrong. Bart Starr was her guy growing up. Lombardi shaped her idea of what football was. But what has emerged for her is an appreciation of the mental side. The pre-snap adjustments. The blocking schemes. The picture reading. For people who dismiss football as a violent spectacle, Kaczmarek now sees the intellectual layer underneath.

She lands on the offensive line. The biggest players on the field, the ones casual fans assume are just blunt instruments, are in many ways the smartest guys in the building. They have to process fronts, stunts, protections, and responsibilities in a window of seconds.

The hit goes from comedy bit to genuine football fan appreciation in about three minutes. It ends with a Hollywood veteran sitting on the Rich Eisen Show explaining why football is more intellectually demanding than most people give it credit for. Then it loops back to the original note for Brandon McManus.

Make the field goals.