Although the Green Bay Packers have given every indication they plan to re-sign kicker Mason Crosby, who will be a free agent when the lockout ends, things don’t always go according to plan.

It’s conceivable, although probably not likely, another team will do something to pry Crosby away from the Packers. In that scenario, the team may be forced to turn to a familiar face — former kicker Ryan Longwell, who’s spent the last five seasons with the Minnesota Vikings and will be a free agent himself.

Interestingly, Longwell didn’t rule out a return to Green Bay when posed the question.

Appearing Friday morning on ESPNMilwaukee.com, Longwell made clear he intends to play in 2011 and said he “wouldn’t mind going back” to the Vikings. Asked if he would consider returning to Green Bay if Packers place-kicker Mason Crosby moves on in free agency, Longwell laughed and said: “You never say never. You just don’t know.”

What’s perhaps more interesting than the possibility of Longwell returning to the Packers is the career arc of the two men in question.

Longwell was a pretty good kicker during his nine years in Green Bay, but he’s become even better since leaving the team in 2006. His field goal percentage has increased in each of the past four seasons. In 2010, he made a career-high 94 percent of his kicks (17 of 18) and has a career percentage of 83.5.

Crosby, on the other hand, has been fairly mediocre since coming to the Packers in 2007. His field goal percentage decreased each of his first three seasons with the Packers, resulting in a below-average 75 percent in 2009, before he rebounded to hit 78.6 percent of his kicks in 2010. In his career, Crosby has made 78.1 percent of his kicks.

Of course, other than their accuracy, the biggest difference between Longwell and Crosby is age. Longwell turns 37 in August, while Crosby turns 27 in September.

So, who would you rather have?

TP wrote:

There are few things you can count on in life, but one thing you can count on: If there is a popular ex-Packer on another team's roster, someone will write an article about the possibility of him coming back to the Packers.

Originally Posted by: Nonstopdrivel 

"There are lies, damned lies and statistics"

That's the phase this article reminds me of. First off when Longwell laughed is sounded like he knew it didn't have a chance of happening. But let me give some more honest and in depth good stats.

And I expect to prove the reason Longwell kicking % is so high is because he normally kicks indoors and they play safe (inside the 40) kicks with him.

As well as prove Crosby has been the opposite way, playing almost all of his kicks happened outside in 2010 and Mike McCarthy takes risk and tries kicking from further a lot more often.

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How many kicks (and what percentage) were kicked outdoors last year?

Crosby had 25 of 28 (89.28%) of his kicks outdoors.
Longwell had 7 of 18 (38.88%) of his kicks outdoors.
So Crosby has to deal with weather a lot more

.....................................

Now lets look at where Longwell makes his money... inside the 40.

Longwell is 15 of 16 (93.75%) inside the 40.
Crosby is 12 of 14 (85.71) inside the 40.

In other words Crosby had to deal with the a lot more weather and still only missed one more kick inside the 40.

.....................................
What about the 40+ long distance ones?

Longwell had only 2 kicks over 40 yards (41 and 48) and made them both.
Crosby had 14 kicks over 40 yards including 4 over 50. He missed two between the 40 and 50 and two over 50.
So Crosby is 8 of 10 between 40 and 50. And 2 of 4 over 50. So overall Crosby was 10 of 14 over 40.

Again Crosby had a lot more difficult kicks.

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If you look at Crosby stats over the years. Inside the 40 he's been pretty good. It's those over 40 and over 50 ones Mike McCarthy likes to go for that kills Crosby kicking %.

Crosby stats.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/splits/_/id/10636/mason-crosby 

Longwell stats.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/splits/_/id/1328/ryan-longwell 

Originally Posted by: beast