GREEN BAY, Wis. — A week after missing five kicks, Mason Crosby kicked the game winner for the Green Bay Packers.
Yes, that Mason Crosby.
The same one who missed four field goals and an extra point in a loss at Detroit. This time, Crosby kicked a 27-yard field goal as time expired to give the Packers a 33-30 comeback victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football at Lambeau Field.
It was Crosby’s fourth field goal of the night. He was good from 29, 39 and 51 yards before the game winner. He also made all three of his extra points for a perfect night.
“It’s very apropos,” Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “What he went through last week and the team to stick with him, and the guys to kind of wrap our arms around him and encourage him the way we do for our teammates was great. And then he responded. The crowd was very encouraging. I was trying to figure out at first if it was kind of a sarcastic cheer, but I felt like it was a pretty heartfelt encouragement after he made four field goals and three extra points. Obviously very happy afterwards and we were very happy for him.”
Eight days earlier in Detroit, Crosby was surrounded by cameras in the visitor’s locker room after the Packers’ loss to the Lions and he said: “I don’t get this much attention unless it’s really bad or extremely good.”
The crowd around him was even bigger in the victorious home locker room at Lambeau Field.
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Mason Crosby expresses his thoughts on his game-winning field goal and how it feels to bounce back after missing five kicks against the Lions.
“Gosh, just so thankful for the Packers organization and my teammates just sticking with me knowing I’ve bounced back a lot in my career,” said Crosby, a 12-year veteran. “I had no days like last week, but this is a special one. This is one of my better days. And to be able to go out there and perform the way I did after last week [was great]. Did a lot of soul-searching this week and made sure I really locked in on my preparation, and it paid off.”
Crosby said he appreciated Rodgers and the offense making the game winner a “chip shot,” as he called it.
He said the more nerve-racking kick was the extra point to tie the game at 30 after Rodgers hit Davante Adams for a 16-yard touchdown with 1:55 left.
“The extra point to tie the game was the one that I was a little more amped up for, making sure I knocked that through,” Crosby said. “But that last one was just kind of muscle memory. The snap came, I felt like I was pretty quick on it and everything was perfect. The protection was great. I felt guys kind of diving in front of me right after, but I was in the zone. It’s special whenever it all comes together that way, and I’m just so thankful for the week of work I had and the guys, how much they never wavered from how they felt about me. To be able to come through like this after a week like I had last week is pretty special.”
An interception by Kevin King with 1:07 left gave the ball back to Rodgers. An illegal contact penalty on 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman wiped out a third-down sack that would’ve killed the drive. Rodgers scrambled on his gimpy left knee for 21 yards, hit Adams for 8 and then rookie Equanimeous St. Brown made a stellar sideline catch for 19 yards, followed by another one to Adams for 19 to set up the game winner.
“That last drive there was unreal,” Crosby said. “The chemistry that this locker room has, everyone is always bringing each other up, trying to make sure that we have each other’s back. Like I said, the guys never wavered from how they felt about me as a man and as a football player. They knew that I worked really hard this week to make sure that I would come through if I was called on this week for this game. Like I said, I’m tired. I’m glad we have the bye week and [I’m] ready to keep moving forward.”
The Packers enter their bye week at 3-2-1 and have four of their next five on the road, beginning at the Rams and at the Patriots. But at least they’re on an emotional high thanks in part to Crosby.
“That’s exactly the way you want to see it end,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “Frankly I wish he didn’t need to kick as many field goals as he did tonight, but yeah definitely, that was a big bounce-back game for Mason and really for our football team. We needed that win.”
And Crosby needed those kicks.
“This week was a grind,” said Crosby, who has made 83.4 percent of his field goals since his career-worst year of 63.6 percent in 2012. “It was one of the tougher weeks of my career just making sure that I didn’t overreact, overanalyze everything. I really did a great job of just locking in and making sure I had good tempo and I kind of just flushed last week and made sure that if I was called upon again this week I was going to come through. Honestly, I had a 51-yarder tonight. When I’m going out there, I was just thankful for another opportunity to hit a kick and felt just really solid with my performance.”
