Crosby on Place in NFL History: ‘It’s Kind of Awesome’

Green Bay Packers kicker Mason Crosby made history last week at the Bears and probably will make some more next week against the Rams.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Dec 11, 2022 1:43 PM EST

In this story:

Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – One kick at a time, longtime Green Bay Packers standout Mason Crosby is climbing his way up the NFL record book.

With his go-ahead field goal last week at Chicago, he passed Stephen Gostkowski and moved up to No. 12 in NFL history in scoring. Crosby has scored 1,877 points in his 16-year career. He’s 36 points behind Sebastian Janikowski (1,913 points) for 11th and 42 behind the still-kicking Robbie Gould for 10th.

“I feel very fortunate,” Crosby said earlier this season when asked about his prominent place in NFL history. “I’ve been a product of having an amazing quarterback in our corner. He’s always been such a great teammate and good support to me. Being on an offense that has historically been really dynamic, I’ve been able to score a lot of points.

“Because of the longevity and being able to stay relatively healthy or at least be able to grind through whenever I wasn’t, I’ve had those opportunities to go out on the field and score those points. That stuff, those are the things I’ll reflect whenever it’s all said and done. Right now, it’s just, ‘Let’s lock in for this week.’”

With the first of his two field goals at Chicago, Crosby broke a tie with Nick Lowery and moved into 15th place on the all-time list with 385. With one field goal next Monday night against the Rams, Crosby will tie David Akers for 14th. He’s seven behind Gostkowski for 13th and 12 behind Matt Bryant for 12th.

In some ways, it’s been a rapid ascent. He started last season ranked 27th all-time in field goals.

“Last year was probably the first time I even thought about it, to be honest,” Crosby said of his place on all-time lists. “Obviously, a few years ago, being able to set the all-time scoring stuff here in Green Bay was really special. Those things – career stats and things like that – whenever it’s all said and done, I’ll look back and reflect. Whenever I’m in it right now, all I can think about is showing up every day, making sure that I’m locked in for practice and then get my job done.”

After missing most of training camp following knee surgery, Crosby is 15-of-18 on field goals. Two of the misses were blocks.

By successfully returning in time for the opener – he said he couldn’t hide a smile when he trotted on the field for his first extra point at Minnesota – Crosby has kicked in 254 consecutive regular-season games – the longest active streak in the NFL. Assuming he kicks in the final four games of the season, his streak will reach 281 once playoffs are included.

It’s possible the next four games will be the final ones for Crosby in a Packers uniform. He’ll be a free agent at the end of the season. The team has kept Ramiz Ahmed on the practice squad all season, and Crosby’s declining leg strength has been noticeable. Among 34 players with at least 20 kickoffs, Crosby ranks 33rd in distance and 34th in hangtime.

Regardless of whether he’s back in 2023, Crosby has set a standard that might live forever in franchise history. With 1,877 career points (and counting), he’s 823 points ahead of Ryan Longwell for No. 1 on the all-time list. He’s more than 1,000 points ahead of everybody else.

One more huge milestone is ahead. He needs 123 points to reach 2,000 points. Only seven players in NFL history have hit that mark.

The 38-year-old said playing 20 seasons “would be a cool number.” With a manageable 100 points per season, he would be in the neighborhood of 2,300 points after that 20th season. Only Adam Vinatieri (2,673), Hall of Famer Morten Anderson (2,544) and Gary Anderson (2,434) have more than 2,150.

“It’s kind of awesome,” he said. “When it’s all said and done, I can look at those things and be like, ‘Man, that was a good time.’”