The Green Bay Packers drafted Mason Crosby for his strong leg, [img_r]http://images.packers.com/images/action/080421crosby150.jpg[/img_r]which was supposed to serve him well both in the cold and from long range.
Nearly 2 seasons into his NFL career, neither has come completely to fruition.
The Packers havent played a cold-weather game yet this season but in regular-season games in which the temperature at kickoff was 32 degrees or lower, Crosby has made just 61.5 percent of his career kicks. That percentage jumps to 66.7 percent if playoffs are included.
This season, his long-range ability has come into question more so than in his first two pro seasons, when he combined to make 6-of-11 field goals from 50 yards or more. After his critical miss wide right from 51 yards in the fourth quarter of Sundays loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Crosby slipped to 1-of-4 on tries of 50 yards or more this season and 7-of-15 for his career. He also has a miss from 49 yards this season.
The league-wide conversion rate from 50 yards or more this season, including Crosbys four attempts, is 52.8 percent.
Im definitely confident in his leg strength, Packers special teams coach Shawn Slocum. I would like to see him make some of those long kicks, and its something thats been a point of emphasis with him and the way we practice.
Crosby has been nothing if not consistent. He converted 79.5 percent of his field goals as a rookie and 79.4 percent last season. Heading into Sundays game at Tampa Bay, hes at 77.8 percent this season. Of his 18 kicks, his misses have come from 49, 51, 55 and 55 yards. In Week 3 at St. Louis, Crosby missed an extra point for the first time in his pro career.
The Packers spent a sixth-round draft pick on Crosby in 2007 because they were looking for more accuracy than they got in one season from Dave Rayner, another strong-legged kicker who hit 74.3 percent of his kicks in 2006. They said they wanted at least an 80-percent kicker.
Crosby, who played college football in the high altitude at Colorado, was the third and final kicker drafted in 2007. Kansas City picked Justin Medlock out of UCLA in the fifth round (No. 160 overall). He kicked in Week 1 of his rookie year, going 1-for-2, and then got cut. That was his only NFL regular-season game, and he last kicked in the CFL last summer. The Chiefs signed Rayner to replace Medlock, but Rayner didnt last the season.
Dallas took Nick Folk out of Arizona in the sixth round (No. 178 overall), 15 spots before the Packers took Crosby. Folk has been the Cowboys kicker since. He has made 85.3 percent of his field goals, including 5-of-8 from 50-plus.
The belief that Crosby has a strong leg no doubt has increased his opportunities from long range and therefore lowered his career percentage, but its not unreasonable to ask a kicker to convert a little more than half of his 50-plus yard attempts. He has tried nearly twice as many 50-plus yarders than Folk. This season, only one other kicker, Jacksonvilles Josh Scobee, has more attempts from 50-plus this season than Crosby. Scobee is 2-for-5.
My thought process is always make the ones I need to make inside the 50, Crosby said. Thats always my goal. Now this year, three out of my four misses the other one was 49 were from 51 and two from 55. Unfortunately, last game it was in a critical situation. It would have been nice to get that one. The more of those you try, youre not going to be able to make them all, but I feel confident with how Im hitting the ball. I think coach is confident, and I think it shows that he puts me out there for those. Ive just got to dial it in and start making a few of them.
Packers coach Mike McCarthy claimed on Friday that he hasnt lost confidence in Crosbys long-range ability despite the miss against the Vikings at a point when the Packers trailed 31-26.
I understand what the statistics are, McCarthy said. I understand the history and everything, but I think you have to coach the game. You have to coach the situation. If I recall, (the line of scrimmage) was the 31- or 32-yard line. Based on the pregame work that specific day, we felt anything from the 38 in was the range. We were 6 yards in the range. The way the game was going, the importance of the moment, I felt to get that to a three-point game was the risk or the goal that we were trying to achieve. So I dont have an issue with attempting a 51. He has plenty of leg. He just didnt get a good kick on it.
Yeah, I expect him to make a 51-yard field goal, and Mason expects to make it. And if I was in that situation again with all the factors leading up to that decision, I would have kicked it again.
Slocum said Crosby was a little out of balance as he contacted the ball, which is critical on long kicks because the margin of error is slim.
Crosby had an abdomen strain that landed him on the injury report in Weeks 2 and 3, but he said thats no longer an issue.
Hes also had two straight games with problems on kickoffs. Two weeks ago at Cleveland, he kicked two balls out of bounds while trying to kick away from return man Josh Cribbs. Against the Vikings, after two straight successful squib kicks, Crosby was supposed to squib another one but instead slipped and popped the ball up in the air, allowing Percy Harvin to return it 48 yards after the Packers had pulled within 24-20. The Vikings scored on that drive. Harvin earlier had a 77-yard return in the first quarter that prompted the Packers to go to the squib kick.
Really, the two returns were highly impactful, and it hurt us in the game, Slocum said. Thats something we cant do.