Crosby Showing No Signs of Decline

Green Bay Packers kicker Mason Crosby has made some big kicks in the decade that he's been with the team.  It was like his first game in a Packers uniform was an omen that he would be called on many times to decide the team's fate over his career.  2007, week one, Crosby nailed a 42-yard field goal with six seconds left to give Green Bay the win over the Philadelphia Eagles and literally kick start his career.

Crosby enters his 11th season in 2017 and comes in with an 80.4 percent conversion rate.  He's finished above that average in five of the last six seasons.

We all remember 2012, when Crosby struggled badly at times.  He was nearly run out of Green Bay and the team brought in Giorgio Tavecchio to compete with Crosby during the 2013 preseason.  A look at the numbers that year actually showed that Crosby kicked well inside of 50 yards.  He was just two of nine from 50 yards or longer, however.  Alas, head coach Mike McCarthy stuck with Crosby and he returned with a vengeance.

Crosby will turn 33 years old at the beginning of this upcoming season.  While the 30+ age bracket spells decline and the beginning of the end for most players, kickers are the exception.  

Indianapolis Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri will enter his 22nd season this year at the age of 44.  His rookie year was 1996, when he faced the Packers in Super Bowl XXXI.  He's still deadly accurate, posting conversion rates of 87.1, 92.6 and 96.8 percent in the last three seasons, respectively.  He missed only one kick in 2014.

History has several other kickers who have prospered well into their late 30's and into their 40's.  Oakland Raiders kicker Sebastian Janikowski was famously drafted 17th overall by Al Davis in 2000 and enters his 18th season as the age of 38 this year.  Other notables are Jan Stenerud, Gary Anderson, Morten Andersen and Jason Hanson.

On field goal tries, Crosby has never missed inside of 19 yards and has missed only two kicks inside of 30 in his career.  He did miss three extra point tries in 2016 after missing just two in the four seasons prior.  Crosby's longest kick each season has come over 50 yards.  Naturally, a kicker's accuracy will wane as the distance increases, but Crosby has missed no more than three from beyond 50 yards in the last four seasons.  

He still has plenty of leg, too.  Although the Packers were just below middle of the pack in 2016 at a touchback percentage of 51, Crosby is plenty capable of booting it through the end zone.  For a time, the Packers tried former punter Tim Masthay on kick offs and soon returned Crosby to those duties.

Last season, Crosby hit game winners late in the season against the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys to win both.  Both were on the road and it was very frigid that day in Chicago.  The Cowboys game is forever embedded in Packers lore with Crosby sinking the game winner just moments after Aaron Rodgers hit Jared Cook on a perfect strike down the sideline to get into range.  Many players on the field could be seen bending and twisting while watching the flight of the ball as it hooked right and just inside the left upright (much to the chagrin of Skip Bayless).

Chances are, the Packers are going to be in most every game this season and Crosby will be called on to seal the deal once again.  10 years later, it's comforting to know that the guy tasked with keeping his nerves steady and foot steady has all of those years of experience to rely on, and likely another 10 to go.

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Jason is a freelance writer on staff since 2012 and also co-hosts Cheesehead TV Live, Pulse of the Pack and Pack A Day podcasts.  You can follow him on Twitter here

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Comments (12)

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PackEyedOptimist's picture

May 26, 2017 at 06:26 am

It's always nice to be reminded of how "company loyalty" can turn out well. Sticking with Davante Adams, Crosby, even McCarthy/Capers, etc. is a sign of strength for a manager.
It's sometimes wiser to let a person go, but the great managers know the difference between a "bad year" and a "lost cause."
Hopefully, we'll see similar "resurrections" from Randall, Rollins, Matthews, etc. this year!

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croatpackfan's picture

May 26, 2017 at 06:34 am

I admit I was all in to release Mason after his bad season. And I admit I was wrong, wrong, dead wrong...
I'm happy I was...

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Lphill's picture

May 26, 2017 at 06:39 am

A reliable kicker is like a closer in baseball , Crosby is the Packers closer .

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NickPerry's picture

May 26, 2017 at 07:05 am

I no longer cringe when Crosby comes into kick a FG. He puts up pretty damn impressive numbers when you consider he kicks in GB. When I watched Bayless the morning after the divisional game I was never happier watching that fool try to make it sound as though Crosby's FG was lucky. Skippy thought because it wasn't a line drive straight as an arrow FG it was a "Lucky Kick". Sorry Skippy, they all are beautiful kicks as long as they go through those uprights.

Being over 85% the last 2 seasons or 3 of the last 4 is pretty damn impressive. Crosby's 7 for 9 in attempts over 50 yards the last 2 season including playoffs is money. There might be kickers who can kick it further or be more accurate but could they do it GB year in and year out like Crosby? I don't want to know, at least for a few more years.

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dobber's picture

May 26, 2017 at 11:30 am

He earned a helluva lot of money with those kicks at the end of the Dallas game. Ice in his veins...

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Handsback's picture

May 26, 2017 at 07:11 am

Crosby is a pretty good athlete and adds a tough guy factor when KO returns get close to him. He's a keeper for sure.

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Spock's picture

May 26, 2017 at 09:39 am

Jasone, I don't understand your use of "alas" in the 3rd paragraph, "Alas, head coach Mike McCarthy stuck with Crosby". To quote The Princess Bride movie, "I don't think that word means what you think it does." :)
I'm glad that MM stuck with Crosby. I've tried to forget all the punters we went thru for many years when the Packer's wouldn't pay top dollar for a good one. I know Crosby is a field go kicker, just using the punter position as an example.

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jasonperone's picture

May 26, 2017 at 10:38 am

What's really missing there is the context of what most were thinking at the time. Probably a big assumption on my part that it would be understood. Should have worded differently. That one went wide right for me ;)

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

May 26, 2017 at 06:37 pm

Jason,

Crosby has a 80.4% career regular season FG %. It is 81.1% including the playoffs, where he has been very good (26/29 - 89.6%0. No idea where you get 84%. And yes, four percentage points matters.

Crosby has tried 54 FGs from over 50 or more yards, making just 28 for a low percentage. Still, looking further, 58 attempts is 28 and 30 more long attempts than Gostkowski and Hausch, respectively. For whatever reason, it seems clear that MM asks Crosby to attempt far more long FGs than other coaches ask of their FG kickers.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/C/CrosMa20.htm

http://www.espn.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/10636/mason-crosby

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jasonperone's picture

May 27, 2017 at 07:49 am

I used ESPN, it is 80.4 reg season, missed the 0 and decimal. No more drinking and posting! But that would only be a 3.6% difference vs 4 ;) and yes that's a big difference in this case

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

May 29, 2017 at 01:55 am

Your correction to my correction is correct: 3.6% it is! Actually, I had done some research on Crosby last week and posted it on APC.

Crosby has been a full time kicker since 2007; Hauschka since 2011; and Goskowski since 2006. Career numbers:
1-19 8/8 100% Crosby; 3-3 100% Hauschka; 3-3 100% Goskowski
20-29: 97.5% Crosby; 93.1% Hauschka; 95.8% Goskowski
30-39: 87.6% Crosby; 95.6% Hauschka; 89.8% Goskowski
40-49: 72.4% Crosby; 80.0% Hauschka; 79.0% Goskowski
50 +: 28/54 51.8% Crosby; 16/24 66.7% Hauschka; 19/26 73.1% Goskowski
Career W/O 50+ yarders: Crosby 86.0%; Hauschka 89.7%; Goskowski 88.2%.
Crosby's stats (laboriously compiled by me):

Turf: 80/94 85.1%; Grass: 182/232 78.44%;
Home: 79.9% Away: 80.9%;
Career: 80.4% on FGs; when margin is 0-7 80.25%

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jasonperone's picture

May 30, 2017 at 06:18 pm

That's good stuff, sir! Kudos!

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