CM_Awesome
Cheesehead
Green Bay Packers kicker Mason Crosby: 'I don’t feel like I’m in a slump' | greenbaypressgazette.com | Green Bay Press-Gazette
After missing 10 of his first 39 field-goal attempts in live periods in training camphttp://www.greenbaypressgazette.com...-feel-like-I-m-in-a-slump-kicker-Crosby-says#, Packers kicker Mason Crosby scrutinized the videotape and determined he was lining up too wide in his soccer-style approach and thus pushing the ball to the right.
He hit the ball better the rest of camp.
Now in the regular season, he’s missed seven of his first 29 attempts. But this time, he’s found no technical flaws.
n fact, of his seven misses, five have been from 49 yards to 55 yards, which are makeable but long kicks. But a red flag went up the last two weeks when he had his two shortest misses of the season, a 43-yarder against Detroit and a 38-yarder last week against Baltimore.
“I watch the film and my steps look good,” he said Thursday after practice. “I continue to try to kick the ball the same way every time, that’s where it’s frustrating at times when it doesn’t go through. But we’re having a good week of practice, I feel as good as I have all year with how the (snap and hold) operation is feeling. I’m looking forward to getting down to Chicago and having a good one down there.”
Crosby’s 75.9 percent success rate on field-goal attempts ranks No. 21 in the NFL for kickers with at least 15 attempts, and 19 of the kickers ahead of him have made at least 80 percent of their kicks, which has become the minimum target teams shoot for in a season.
Crosby’s leg strength never has been a problem, and the Packers have considered him one of their most talented young players. But after Crosby’s miss at Detroit McCarthy later in the game eschewed trying a 49-yarder and instead tried to convert a fourth-and-three. Despite McCarthy’s public statements to the contrary after the game, it suggested he wasn’t as confident in his kicker as earlier in the season.
Crosby and special teams coach Shawn Slocum said Thursday that Crosby missed the 38-yarder in part because of a snafu on the hold. Matt Flynn juggled the snap and set the ball in front of the intended spot, which forced Crosby to reach for the ball and push it wide right.
“You’d like for him to make the kick,” Slocum said. “What happens on a mishandle, the kicker’s going into the ball, and he’s trusting that ball’s going to be right there on that spot. When there’s a double-clutch, he’s got to really stay on it and trust the holder’s going to get it there. In fact, what happened, the spot was several inches in front of what the intended spot was supposed to be, and Mason’s plant foot went according to where we intended to spot it, and so that produced the miss.”
Said Crosby: “I don’t feel like I’m in a slump. I keep getting all these questions, (but) I’m not missing tons of kicks I shouldn’t miss. These last two games are obviously ones you wish you could have back, but I feel like I’m hitting the ball well and we’re going to make the kicks whenever that time comes. I do look at these last four games as a re-set, OK, these last four games we’re heading into playoff time and some big games we need to win, and it’s important that I’m on.”
After missing 10 of his first 39 field-goal attempts in live periods in training camphttp://www.greenbaypressgazette.com...-feel-like-I-m-in-a-slump-kicker-Crosby-says#, Packers kicker Mason Crosby scrutinized the videotape and determined he was lining up too wide in his soccer-style approach and thus pushing the ball to the right.
He hit the ball better the rest of camp.
Now in the regular season, he’s missed seven of his first 29 attempts. But this time, he’s found no technical flaws.
n fact, of his seven misses, five have been from 49 yards to 55 yards, which are makeable but long kicks. But a red flag went up the last two weeks when he had his two shortest misses of the season, a 43-yarder against Detroit and a 38-yarder last week against Baltimore.
“I watch the film and my steps look good,” he said Thursday after practice. “I continue to try to kick the ball the same way every time, that’s where it’s frustrating at times when it doesn’t go through. But we’re having a good week of practice, I feel as good as I have all year with how the (snap and hold) operation is feeling. I’m looking forward to getting down to Chicago and having a good one down there.”
Crosby’s 75.9 percent success rate on field-goal attempts ranks No. 21 in the NFL for kickers with at least 15 attempts, and 19 of the kickers ahead of him have made at least 80 percent of their kicks, which has become the minimum target teams shoot for in a season.
Crosby’s leg strength never has been a problem, and the Packers have considered him one of their most talented young players. But after Crosby’s miss at Detroit McCarthy later in the game eschewed trying a 49-yarder and instead tried to convert a fourth-and-three. Despite McCarthy’s public statements to the contrary after the game, it suggested he wasn’t as confident in his kicker as earlier in the season.
Crosby and special teams coach Shawn Slocum said Thursday that Crosby missed the 38-yarder in part because of a snafu on the hold. Matt Flynn juggled the snap and set the ball in front of the intended spot, which forced Crosby to reach for the ball and push it wide right.
“You’d like for him to make the kick,” Slocum said. “What happens on a mishandle, the kicker’s going into the ball, and he’s trusting that ball’s going to be right there on that spot. When there’s a double-clutch, he’s got to really stay on it and trust the holder’s going to get it there. In fact, what happened, the spot was several inches in front of what the intended spot was supposed to be, and Mason’s plant foot went according to where we intended to spot it, and so that produced the miss.”
Said Crosby: “I don’t feel like I’m in a slump. I keep getting all these questions, (but) I’m not missing tons of kicks I shouldn’t miss. These last two games are obviously ones you wish you could have back, but I feel like I’m hitting the ball well and we’re going to make the kicks whenever that time comes. I do look at these last four games as a re-set, OK, these last four games we’re heading into playoff time and some big games we need to win, and it’s important that I’m on.”
