Crosby ‘Got Really Jacked Up’ After Long Field Goal

Including playoffs, Packers kicker Mason Crosby has made 370 field goals. He hasn't celebrated many of those like he did the clutch kick at Detroit.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Dec 17, 2020 11:33 AM EST

GREEN BAY, Wis. – On Sunday, Green Bay Packers kicker Mason Crosby for the 1,040th time of his career kicked a brown ball between two yellow posts.

He hasn’t celebrated many of those 370 successful field goals like he did the one against the Detroit Lions.

As his 57-yard field goal soared over the upright, Crosby raised both fists toward the roof of Ford Field, pumped his fist and received a hero’s welcome on the sideline. The exhilaration was three-fold. First, the second-longest field goal of his career gave the Packers a 31-21 lead. Second, with a two-score lead, it put the Packers in a strong position to win the game and clinch the NFC North title.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, Crosby’s confidence that he could make the kick is why he had gotten the opportunity in the first place. During pregame warmups, it was deemed Crosby’s range was 55 yards. This kick would be 2 yards longer. Special teams coordinator Shawn Mennenga and coach Matt LaFleur considered sending on the punting unit. Then, LaFleur asked Crosby if he could make it. When Crosby said yes, LaFleur sent on the field-goal unit.

“I just saw it as an opportunity to go up two scores and felt good about how I was kicking the ball at that time,” Crosby, who ranks 20th in NFL history in scoring, said on Wednesday. “I looked over, I knew Shawn and Matt were talking about it, and I gave them a thumbs up. They asked from a distance if I felt good about it, so it was kind of on my shoulders then to make sure I knocked it through.”

To be sure, it was a gamble. Had Crosby failed to knock if through, the Lions would have been only 53 yards from a touchdown to either tie the game or, with a two-point conversion, take the lead.

“Being indoors like that, I had all the confidence in the world,” Mennenga said. “I just wanted to make sure that we obviously protect it. The ball’s going to come out in a lower trajectory, and they have a good block team.”

Crosby got the ball over the front, took a step to his left and started celebrating before the ball even reached the goal posts.

“It was exciting,” he said. “The lean, honestly, I was leaning because I couldn’t see the ball. There were a few guys that came down and got some pressure on our left side so, after I kicked it, I was kind of leaning to the left and, as I did that, I put my hands up. I caught the eyes of some of the guys on the sideline and just got really jacked up. It’s fun to just feel.”

It was Crosby’s longest field goal since 2013. He’s 15-of-15 on field goals this season, hasn’t missed a field goal in almost a full calendar year and has missed only four field-goal attempts in the 40 regular-season games since his infamous four-miss day at Detroit in October 2018.

“He’s been a part of so many big wins and he’s been a big part of some of those wins,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “Thinking about some of the great kicks he’s made over the years, some of the momentum swingers that he’s been a part of, just his consistency. It’s not like that around the league. Sometimes, we might forget. He’s basically had one bad game in all these years. I’m fortunate to have played with him so long. I hope there’s more years together. I really have enjoyed going to battle with him and just the trust that we all have when ‘2’ takes the field just speaks to how well he’s played for us.”