Mason Crosby misses goals: Packers’ inconsistent kicking becomes an issue in 2021

Mason Crosby has mostly settled in during his 15-year career with the Packers, but at times, he has endured prolonged slumps.

So far, the 2021 season qualifies as a season one.

After a great 2020 season, Crosby has struggled to find the rhythm this year. He performed well at the start of the season, but since Week 5 things have gone badly for the starter. His inconsistency hasn’t cost the Packers too much, but as post-season draws nearer, they’re certainly hoping that he’ll be a little more reliable than he has been lately.

It all starts with the Bears in “Sunday Night Football” in Week 14. The weather may be cold, but Crosby’s feet will have to heat up in next week’s game against longtime Green Bay rivals.

Here’s a look back at Crosby’s season so far and how it compares to some of the bright spots in his career. There’s also a look at how he has regressed since last year, arguably the best season of his career.

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Mason Crosby misses target, 2021 stats

Crosby had one of his worst campaigns to date with the Packers. Crosby has been plagued by unsuccessful runs on on-field goals and extra points. He had a good start to the season, making his first nine goals of the season, but since then things have gone awry.

It all started in Week 5 against the Bengals. Crosby made his first three goals of the day and was given the chance to score a late lead against the Bengals.

He missed it. And then another one. And then another one.

In the end, he had a fourth chance to win the game, as Bengals striker Evan McPherson was also unable to make his attempt to win the game. Crosby moved from 49 yards out to give the Packers the victory.

In the end, Crosby made four of the seven goals in the Packers’ 25-22 win. While the Packers took the win, the game of three slips sent Crosby down. He’s only scored nine of his 18 on-field goals since the fourth quarter of that game. He has also missed a scoring attempt in his last four games.

Here are Crosby’s overall numbers this season.

Crosby’s on-field scoring rate of 66.7 is the second-worst number of his career. He’ll probably be fine during the bye week, but if he doesn’t, his inability to consistently score on the pitch could become a problem for the team, as it has been during the 15-year Packers career his.

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Mason Crosby in 2021 vs. 2012 Mason Crosby

In some ways, Crosby’s 2021 season is reminiscent of the worst season of his career, coming in 2012. During that campaign, Crosby made just 21 of his 33 goals with The worst career-goal rate of 63.6.

Despite his struggles that season, then-coach Mike McCarthy remained steadfastly committed to Crosby.

“We’ll continue with Mason,” McCarthy said at his post-match press conference after Crosby missed two goals in the 24-20 Packers win over the Lions in Week 11. “We won’t blink on our commitment to him.”

That has been proven true. The Packers have not considered cutting him despite the struggle and chatter from fans and media pundits about replacing him. The final numbers of the season weren’t pretty, but as McCarthy expected, Crosby has regained form and continues to be a long-term starting pick for the Packers.

It is certainly interesting that Crosby’s 2012 numbers are similar to those he posted this season. He had a stretch, in which he scored 7 of 15 goals on the field and scored a stretch of 9 consecutive games with a failed goal (excluding matches where he failed to score). try to score).

If Crosby continues to struggle into 2021, this campaign could surpass 2012 as the worst year of his career.

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Mason Crosby’s five missed kicks vs. Lions

That said, Crosby will have a hard time topping the record for the worst single game of his career at any point. As bad as Crosby’s three missed goals against the Bengals in Week 4 of this season, it pales in comparison to his performance against the Lions in 2018.

Crosby missed five starts in the Week 5 loss to Detroit in 2018. He scored just a fifth of the goals on the field and missed the only extra point he was asked to try in the 31- 23 of the Packers.

Crosby’s missed kicks caused a 13-point spin in the game, and he lost in his post-match press conference.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’ve never had a game like it,” Crosby told reporters after the game. “This is uncharted territory. … That kind of game never happened to me. I would evaluate it and categorize it as an anomaly in life.”

“It’s kind of annoying because like I said Pregame is good, I feel solid,” he continued. “Actually, to be honest, every effort I make feels like I’m out of step. It’s not like that. We’re going to look at it, we’re going to look into every aspect of it and [move on]. “

Crosby made 19 of his next 21 goals and didn’t miss any of his 26 extras for the rest of the season. In fact, for the Detroit game, he made 29 of 32 goals (90.6 percent success rate) and 34 of 35 extra points (97.1 percent).

So, as Crosby said, it’s just an anomaly.

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Mason Crosby in 2021 vs. 2020 Mason Crosby

You know what else could be an anomaly? Crosby’s 2020 season. He doesn’t have to kick as often as the Packers foul came under Aaron Rodgers during his MVP campaign, but when he does start, Crosby is almost spotless.

Crosby scored 16 goals and made them all. He became only the 10th qualifying player in NFL history to score every goal on his field. That’s a smaller-than-average sample size from Crosby, but it’s still impressive; it happened to be overshadowed by Seahawks striker Jason Myers doing the same thing 24 times, including a 61-yard player.

That said, Crosby was 36 years old at the time his record-breaking season hit record. Gary Anderson, 39, is the only player older than him to do so.

Crosby isn’t good at adding points to the Packers. He took 59 of 63 kicks, hitting a career-low 93.7% rate of extra points. However, his total effort and performance led the league that year, and he regularly scored for the Packers’ powerful attacks.

Overall, Crosby’s numbers last season are in stark contrast to this year’s.

Crosby’s setback as a striker has cost the Packers twice this season – against the Chiefs and in their first game against the Vikings – and almost cost them against the Bengals. If they want to make it to the Super Bowl, they’ll need Crosby to get back to their 2020 form.

Otherwise, it would be outrageous for him to take a kick from anywhere on the field.