Packers kicker Mason Crosby was having a near-perfect camp. Everything was going swimmingly. I haven’t had to write about him or even so much as mention his name the past week. (Which is the way I like it).
Then the Packers decided to mess with a good thing on Family Night.
Under the guise of “getting used to the new stadium” (with the new south end zone construction), the Packers took the risk of overworking Crosby and messing up his mechanics with way too many 60 yard field goal attempts (four in a row at the end).
Crosby attempted eight straight field goals at the end of practice. here’s how they went:
37yds. miss
37yds. miss
53yds. miss
56yds. make
60yds. miss
60yds. make
62yds. miss
65yds. miss
My first question is why? Everyone (coaches, players and fans alike) knows that Crosby has more than enough leg to make long field goals. That has never been brought into question, even by this former critic of Crosby. Accuracy is another matter, of course. Over the course of his career, Crosby has hit 50% of field goal attempts over 50 yards. That’s not awful, nor is it great, but I’m not here to talk about that.
My purpose here is to ask why would the Packers risk Crosby getting hurt or messing up his mechanics by “showing off” in front of the home crowd? Having Crosby expend the extra energy needed to take those long kicks at a meaningless scrimmage is just dumb. Once he made that 60 yard kick, wouldn’t it have made sense to end his night right then and there? Not to mention allowing Crosby to finish the night on a positive note, a night when he missed way too many kicks after being Mr. Automatic in camp.
My last question is, who’s idea was this? Was this something McCarthy or Slocum had planned? Was it something Crosby did spontaneously and no one stepped up to stop him? Either way, I didn’t like it at all and I don’t think it was a smart thing to do. The Packers need to protect an important asset like <cough> Mason Crosby <cough>.
Anyone else feel the same way?
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Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.
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No. Crosby is a grown man and a pro. A few misses in a glorified practice won’t mess with his mind.
And like you said, his leg is plenty strong.
Now, if this holds up for 3 weeks… then..
Jason Wilde spoke with Crosby. His leg was sore the next day, but he’s OK now:
From Wilde: “He also said his leg, which was sore after the extra kicks, has rebounded fine.”
Just the type of thing I was concerned about…
No big deal Crosby practicing field goal attempts, that’s what he’s supposed to do.
But if he’s practicing tackling, that’s a problem.
If we need Crosby to kick 60 yarders much less a consistant number of 50 yarders…we have bigger problems than him missing them.
I’ll worry when he misses a lot of 35-43 yarders.
Special Teams (ST) needs the work now as the team will not have as much time in a few weeks. Kicking in “live” game conditions with a night wind is experience that will pay off in September-December.
ST players need to give reps and I’m sure more than 1 player needed to show their stuff (besides Crosby) in those kicks that will determine if they make the team.
MM will not allow or do anything that he doesn’t believe will benefit the team’s growth.
At the time it looked like they were having fun, but you have to wonder about the outcome, it certainly didn’t help anyone’s confidence and there’s always the injury risk. That said, it’s very early in camp, and there has to come a time when the team needs to learn the “new” wind patterns at Lambeau, but I would think that could be done from a reasonable 40 – 50 yards without as much risk of a pulled muscle.
What I knew beforehand – if the Packers have to rely on a 62 yard field goal to win the game, they’re probably going to lose. What I knew afterward – if the Packers have to rely on a 62 yard field goal to win the game, they’re probably going to lose.
First of all, I think it was Crosby’s idea to keep on trying. And missing those shorter-ones was a little disconcerting. Not only did he miss a number of field-goals (and I think he missed a few intra-scrimmage ones too), but he looked really crappy doing it. He has throughout his career also kicked way too many knuckle-ball type kicks(even on shorter kicks sometimes). It seemed like he got that straightened out last year, when most of his kicks went end-over-end.
I don’t care what anyone says, I have never felt that confident with him kicking with the game on the line. Hope he gets this figured out, and maybe takes something off his shorter kicks or gets the ball to rotate properly.
I will say, in comparison to the lineman trying those short field goals, Crosby looked fantastic.
Missing 2- 37 yarders is terrible
Crosby likes the laces out. The laces were in.
And his pad level wasn’t right, either
Terrible post. A kicker does not mess up his “mechanics” by attempting too many kicks no more than a QB could mess up his mechanics if he attempts too many throws. The kicking technique is automatic; it’s his confidence and/or focus that should be questioned here. Missing two 37 yd kicks? Ugh
Also, saying his leg was sore after 8 extra kicks? Please.
terrible comment.
1) Crosby said his leg was sore the next day. Crosby said it. You know better?
2) Having coached soccer for 10 years at a pretty high level, I can guarantee it takes different mechanics to make longer kicks and puts much more of a strain on your leg. Also, the risk of injury is higher when you are putting max effort into a kick. These are facts.
The thing is, his mechanics were clearly already messed up… Missing back-to-back 37 yarders is pretty bad. That’s what the post should have focused on, not the missed 60+ ones later- who cares about those?
That would have been your article. My article focused on what I was interested in talking about. I know what you’re saying, but that early in camp, I’m more worried about unnecessarily risking injuries than missing some 37 yd. field goals.