Mason Crosby 2013

[Ogsponge]

So I understand last year brought a ton of heat on Mason Crosby, the amount of field goals missed last year was insane. I noticed in other threads this week that people are freaking out about Crosby again, and I understand that as well but I think people are being a little too quick to lampoon the guy, I have even seen people saying that he should be gone after this year. Unless he completely unravels again, I think this thought process is crazy. Here are some numbers to chew on:

1. throwing out last year because I fully believe it to be an anomaly and he had the shanks similar to a golfer, his career field goal percentage is 79%, counting last year and this year he is just under 78% which puts him 53rd career percentage wise in the history of the NFL. Not too shabby for kicker who has spent his entire career in Green Bay

2. His percentage so far this year is 84% which is currently on pace for the 2nd best of his career which was 85.7% in 2011

3. So far this year he is perfect inside of 40 yards, he has missed at least one kick inside this range every year

4. He is on pace to attempt 45 field goals this year, 12 more than his career average of 33 per year and 6 more than he has kicked in any single year

5. He is only one of 10 out of 32 kickers to attempt more than three 50+ kicks this year. Of the 10 only one is perfect, 3 have missed one, 3 have missed 2 (including Crosby) and 3 have missed 3 or more

6. I will mention some numbers from last year, of the 12 field goals he missed last year, 7 of them were from 50+ and 5 from inside of 50. Guess how many field goals on average he misses from inside of 50 a year? That is right 5. My point being, last year he obviously had the shanks which of course are going to be greatly compounded on longer attempts as this set of numbers shows.

What is the point of all of this you say?

1. Last year was fluke

2. This year he is on pace to have the 2nd best season of his career

3. last week's 2 misses are greatly compounded and exaggerated by the fact that injuries are piling, we are without Rodgers, the defense is getting really bad, and the Packers are losing. Had we won that game by 3 or less, no one would be complaining about the 2 misses

4. Until he shows signs of regression to last year (I will call it now by saying it is not going to happen) get off that guy's case, Crosby is a pretty damn good kicker considering when and where he has to kick about 1/4 of his field goals every year. We as Packer fans truly have enough other things to panic about other than a field goal kicker who is having the 2nd best season of his career.

5. Crosby has not cost the Packers a single victory this year. The defense has cost us 3 while the combination of the offense & defense cost us one (the bengals)

6. Just my two cents, okay maybe it was a dime.

 

[Forget Favre]

The only way those two misses vs Philly would have mattered is if the Packers had lost by 6 or fewer points.
Instead pin the loss on the defense and Tolzien. Both didn't play good enough to win.

 

[Dieseljunkie12]

Completely agree, the lynch mob lining up for Crosby is unreal. I bet 73%of the haters out there can't even kick a football and 98% of them couldn't hit a 20 yarder. Ease up guys and gals.

 

[GoPGo]

The only way those two misses vs Philly would have mattered is if the Packers had lost by 6 or fewer points.
Instead pin the loss on the defense and Tolzien. Both didn't play good enough to win.

You can't expect Tolzien to morph into Aaron Rodgers. Given his lack of both experience and practice prior to last week, you couldn't really ask for more. McCarthy was smart enough to recognize that.

 

[TJV]

According to Aaron Rodgers Tolzien had exactly 6 snaps with the first team O in the week before that game. 4 one day and 2 the next. So he's the only member of the team who gets a pass from me for that game. In fact, again according to Aaron, he did very well executing plays he's never practiced. (BTW Rodgers appears to be really impressed with Tolzien.) The D obviously stunk it up and the OL wasn't great either IMO, particularly Newhouse.

Regarding Crosby, IMO it rarely makes sense to exclude data when analyzing a player. Even if it's just a play, let alone an entire season. Citing his career stats are of course fine, but IMO those stats have to include his entire career.

Since Rodgers left the Bears game, the Packers have needed every other player to step up his game to make up for the loss of their best player. (Unfortunately few have IMO.) The Packers have struggled scoring points in Rodgers' absence so it is particularly important for Crosby to step up his game. I disagree his misses didn't matter because they ended up losing by more than 6 points. You never know what would have happened if he had made those kicks - not only because of the added points but also the psychological affect on the team and even the opponents' field position after the made FG. (I'm certainly not saying they would have won if he made those FGs.) Anyway, I viewed those kicks as the most important, most pressure-packed of the season to date for Crosby. You can cite all the stats you want but my conclusion about the strong-legged kicker is: Mason Crosby is not clutch. I for one prefer a weaker-legged clutch kicker to Crosby.

It's likely he'll be the kicker next season but I hope they bring in the best competition they can find for him in the spring.

 

[HardRightEdge]

Mason Crosby's reputation as a "strong leg" kicker goes back to his college days when he kicked at high altitude. There has not been much evidence of elite leg strength in the NFL. In fact, he was dead last in the league in touchback % in 2011. His long range make % is not at all impressive.

Over his career his make % drops sharply as the weather gets cold. Missing that 42 yarder last week was indicative of his typical season trajectory. He's got 3 games left at Lambeau and one in Chicago. We've seen his best through the first 8 games; don't expect a continuation.

 

[GoPGo]

Mason Crosby's reputation as a "strong leg" kicker goes back to his college days when he kicked at high altitude. There has not been much evidence of elite leg strength in the NFL. In fact, he was dead last in the league in touchback % in 2011. His long range make % is not at all impressive.

Over his career his make % drops sharply as the weather gets cold. Missing that 42 yarder last week was indicative of his typical season trajectory. He's got 3 games left at Lambeau and one in Chicago. We've seen his best through the first 8 games; don't expect a continuation.

There was a strong gust of wind after that kick was in the air. You could see the flags on the uprights go horizontal very suddenly. Same thing happened to Henery.

 

[El Guapo]

Ogsponge, that's pretty much exactly all of the same stats and analysis that I posted last season in the Crosby thread. He was 2 of 9 from 50+ which accounted for the only significant difference from all of his previous seasons, his %s under 50 yards were pretty much on average. I thought that McCarthy was to blame for his low numbers. Here was a coach that knew he had a kicker in a slump, so instead of building his confidence with easier kicks he kept trotting Crosby out to attempt 50+. He did it in four straight games from Weeks 11-14 in the heart of Crosby's slump. That was stupid coaching, especially when you have one of the most potent offenses in the league, the reigning MVP at quarterback, and you're facing 4th down in the opponents' end of the field. Go for it.

There were lots of people on this forum last year arguing that Crosby was a man, a professional, blah blah blah. That's fine but most athletes go through slumps, and I don't think that "manning" up is always the right solution, and it CLEARLY was not last year, because it didn't work. The new approach this year is with a carrot and stick, which so far has been working out better.

 

[13 Times Champs]

Up until Sunday Crosby was doing very good. I think some people fear a repeat of last year and that is what their angst is about.

 

[rodell330]

Up until Sunday Crosby was doing very good. I think some people fear a repeat of last year and that is what their angst is about.

Exactly...who's to say the guy doesn't go into another "slump" and starts shanking everything? We are going to need him to win a game for us at some point this year i guarantee it..and when he jogs out onto the field i will turn off the tv and go into the other room because that's how much he works my nerves. I DON'T trust him.

 

[GoPGo]

Exactly...who's to say the guy doesn't go into another "slump" and starts shanking everything? We are going to need him to win a game for us at some point this year i guarantee it..and when he jogs out onto the field i will turn off the tv and go into the other room because that's how much he works my nerves. I DON'T trust him.

I'm not sure you're aware of this or not, but MOST kickers struggle on gusty days, including Alex Henery.

 

[El Guapo]

A bunch of nervous cats around here. I'm not guaranteeing anything about Crosby but come on, enjoy the game for what it is....spontaneous and unpredictable entertainment

 

[7thFloorRA]

I want to know why he is kicking off again. Masthay was doing just fine and Crosby was locked in on FG's. Why did they switch back to what didn't work last year?

 

[Shawnsta3]

I want to know why he is kicking off again. Masthay was doing just fine and Crosby was locked in on FG's. Why did they switch back to what didn't work last year?

Crosby reportedly had better accuracy to "place" the kicks where they wanted better against good returners. I don't have any numbers, but I'm guessing he's also a better option in onside kick situations.

 

[7thFloorRA]

The onside thing I buy. As far as placement though....I would prefer the ball be placed beyond the endzone for a touchback and that is something Masthay can do better than Mason.

 

[Forget Favre]

Not every player in the NFL is consistent/perfect 100% of the time and Mason is part of that too.
Either he does better and we keep him or cut and get someone in here who can do better.

 

[El Guapo]

The onside thing I buy. As far as placement though....I would prefer the ball be placed beyond the endzone for a touchback and that is something Masthay can do better than Mason.

You're assuming that Masthay was booming every kickoff through the endzone, but he wasn't. Yes he did better than Crosby but he wasn't doing it anywhere near 100%, especially on windy days. In those situations, Slocum said that he was then using Crosby against good returners to at least get the ball near the sidelines, since it appears that Masthay can't do that. He's just a big leg.

 

[HardRightEdge]

There was a strong gust of wind after that kick was in the air. You could see the flags on the uprights go horizontal very suddenly. Same thing happened to Henery.

So, I'm talking about a career's body of work and you isolate on one kick. That's about par for the course.

 

[Forget Favre]

I would love to go out and try and kick field goals from all sorts of distances to see if it really is as easy as they make it look.

 

[HardRightEdge]

I want to know why he is kicking off again. Masthay was doing just fine and Crosby was locked in on FG's. Why did they switch back to what didn't work last year?

Likely because MM had that surprise on-side in mind and needed to set it up. Crosby is adept at it; Masthy doesn't have the experience. You cannot trot Crosby out only when you want to try it...everybody would know what's coming.

 

[7thFloorRA]

So.....

The positives in Mason kicking off-

• He can onside kick
• He can directionally kick away from the top returners or at least alter their paths

The negatives-

• He does not have the strength Masthay does
• It may screw with his FG kicking

I just hope this isn't why he is suddenly off again with his field goals. I thought there was talk of his improved accuracy having something to do with no longer kicking off earlier in the year.

 

[GoPGo]

So, I'm talking about a career's body of week and you isolate on one kick. That's about par for the course.

No, that's not the case. I was referring directly to the missed 42-yarder that you referenced.

 

[CW21NumeroUno]

Has Mason Crosby ever won us a game besides the first game of the season back in 2007 against Philly?

 

[Forget Favre]

Has Mason Crosby ever won us a game besides the first game of the season back in 2007 against Philly?

Good question.
And what is his win-loss ratio?
How many games has he lost for us?

 

[HardRightEdge]

Has Mason Crosby ever won us a game besides the first game of the season back in 2007 against Philly?

Crosby made a 31 yarder on the last play of the game on the road to beat the Giants in 2011. 31 yarder...that's about a 95% make in the NFL. Those two kicks are his only game winners.

In 2010, he bounced a 53 yarder off the upright against Washington with one second left, again on the road, to send the game into overtime...we lost. A 53 yarder is a 50/50 proposition even for good kickers, especially outdoors. There are probably other game losers, but I can't recall the specifics, and 2 pages of Google searches is my limit on this topic.

I found it interesting to see that Crosby holds the NFL record for most points scored in a player's first 6 seasons. Just goes to show gross numbers can be misleading.