ATLANTA, Georgia — What Green Bay Packers kicker Mason Crosby did against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday was unprecedented.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Crosby is the first kicker to make two field goals 50 yards or longer in the final two minutes of a postseason game.
He put the Packers ahead twice, the last time as time ran out.
“It’s kind of a blur right now,” Crosby said shortly after the Packers’ 34-31 victory at AT&T Stadium. “But it was unreal.”
Crosby entered the day 0-of-4 on potential game-tying or go-ahead kicks of 50 yards or longer in the fourth quarter or overtime.
His first kick was a 56-yarder, the third-longest field goal in NFL postseason history, trailing a 58-yarder by Pete Stoyanovich for the 1990 Dolphins and a 57-yarder by Mike Nugent for the 2014 Bengals.
The second was the 51-yard game winner, marking the first time that Crosby has made multiple 50-yard field goals in a game in his career.
And he had to make the 51-yarder twice after Cowboys coach Jason Garrett called a timeout to try to ice Crosby. His first attempt, just before the timeout, went right down the middle. The second hugged the left upright and barely went through.
It was set up by a 36-yard sideline catch by Jared Cook that Crosby said he didn’t even see because he was warming up on the sideline.
“I had to kind of bring [the adrenaline] back a little bit,” Crosby said. “You get pretty amped up, the crowd noise and everything. I just kept telling myself to stay smooth and hit a good ball because you don’t want to overswing on those. I felt like I hit it pretty smooth and was able to knock it through.”
Crosby has now made an NFL-record 23 consecutive postseason field goals (Elias notes that David Akers ranks second with 19 straight). Crosby is 26-of-28 on postseason field goal attempts in his career. The misses were a 54-yarder against the Cardinals in the 2009 wild-card round and a 50-yarder against the Falcons in the 2010 divisional round.
“For Mason to hit those two kicks, he’s the best kicker in the league — and he’s got to do it outdoors for much of the season on a tough field at times, and he’s so reliable for us,” Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “I know he’s made a bunch in a row for us in the playoffs. It’s just incredible that he makes it twice. A lot goes into that operation. Brett [Goode], obviously, with a great snap, Jake [Schum] with the hold, and Mason banged it through twice. That was pretty amazing.”
