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Sunday, June 28, 1998 Page: 1C
Sometimes, practice doesn’t make perfect
In retrospect, Brett Conway looks at 1997 as just one of those yearsThat’s
the nice way of explaining the former Penn State star’s completely forgettable
first season with the Green Bay Packers.
Then there’s Packer guard Marco Rivera’s version of the story, which is
slightly less sympathetic.
“He got mental,” Rivera said of his close friend.
That description brought a huge grin to Conway’s face, which could very
well be the first time the former Nittany Lion laughed at himself since the
night of July 31, 1997- the most unfunny day of his young life.
Making his debut as the Packers’ placekicker before a packed house at
Lambeau Field and with millions more watching on national television, Conway-
the much-heralded third-round draft pick, the guy for whom the Packers
released veteran kicker Chris Jacke- went out and hooked his first field goal
in an exhibition against New England.
Then he missed a second.
Later, a third.
By the time the last kick sailed excruciatingly wide right, even the
Patriots were pulling for the rookie from Penn State.
“Everybody,” Conway said, “was telling me to forget about it.”
Instead of chalking it up to one of those things, Conway figured he’d
simply work out the kinks.
Now comes the “mental” part.
“The next week I probably kicked twice as many balls (in practice) as I
should have,” confessed Conway, who along with former Nittany Lion Rivera,
signed autographs for three hours Saturday morning at Petro Trucking Centers
in Dupont.
“The next game out in Oakland, I was real fired up … going to redeem
myself … wasn’t going to miss,” Conway explained. “Then right at the end of
my warmup is when I pulled it.”
Conway so severely damaged his right quadriceps muscle that he was forced
to miss the entire season. Doctors informed him the injury was a direct result
of extreme muscle fatigue.
Or, in Rivera’s words: “Brett went out and kicked a 100 balls, got hurt,
got put on (injured reserve), and gave Longwell all the confidence he needed.”
That … and a job.
Once a free agent with little hope of making the team, Ryan Longwell became
one of the most effective weapons for coach Mike Holmgren’s Super Bowl
runner-up squad last season.
Talk about kicking a guy when he’s down.
“The hardest part’s been waiting and sitting out and just watching the
whole year,” said Conway, 23, who grew up in Lilburn, Ga., but has family
roots in Bear Creek, Pa. “Not getting a chance to show the Green Bay Packers
and everybody else that I’m not an O-for-3 kicker.
“I can handle going O-for-3 and having a bad game, but I can’t handle not
having a chance to redeem myself. I went a whole year not being able to come
back and redeem myself from that one bad game.”
Holmgren and Green Bay special teams coach Nolan Cromwell have told Conway-
who is earning considerably more money than Longwell- that the placekicking
job is up for grabs when camp starts next month.
Conway, who left college in a tie for or holding seven Penn State and two
Big Ten records, thinks otherwise.
“I find that hard to believe because Ryan had a great year last year. If I
was the GM, he’d be my guy right now,” he said.
Don’t take that as a sign Brett Conway has lost faith in his abilities. If
anything, he believes all the more in himself these days.
&nbs