Eric Goska column: Crosby is perfect on road, as usual
Rob Bironas got to be the hero Sunday in Tennessee. It could just as easily have been Mason Crosby.
Bironas kicked a 41-yard field goal in overtime to down the Packers 19-16 in a hard-fought game that kept the Titans unbeaten at 8-0. Bironas accounted for 13 points, with four field goals and an extra point.
But Bironas missed a 47-yarder as time expired in the fourth quarter. Crosby wouldn’t have missed that kick, at least not based on the impressive resume he has forged since joining the Packers as a sixth-round draft choice last year.
Crosby nailed three field goals against Tennessee. He sent a 23-yarder through the uprights to give the Packers their first points and cut the Titans’ lead to 6-3 early in the second quarter. He pushed a 25-yard attempt through to close the gap 16-13 late in the third.
His final effort, from 38 yards, tied the game at 16 with 5 minutes, 30 seconds left in regulation.
Just another perfect day on the road for Mr. Crosby.
Crosby has connected on his last 18 field goals in road games. His second field goal on Sunday broke the previous Packers record of 16 straight, held by Ryan Longwell.
Since beating out Dave Rayner for the kicking job as a rookie, Crosby has been solid. He led the league in scoring with 141 points last year. This year, he’s on pace to score 132 points.
Crosby has excelled on the road. He hasn’t blown a field-goal attempt outside Lambeau Field since failing on a 52-yard try at Arrowhead Stadium in a 33-22 win in Kansas City on Nov. 4, 2007.
His only other miss on the road was a 42-yard try at Giants Stadium in his second game as a pro.
Crosby has made an astounding 25 of 27 field goals (92.6 percent) in road games. It’s a team record, and his percentage is almost eight points better than runner-up Jan Stenerud (84.85 percent).
Such success is one reason Crosby has scored more often on the road than at Lambeau. In 24 career games, he has 97 points at home and 110 when he’s out of town.
A look at his attempts reveals he is, on average, attempting shorter kicks in away games. The average length of his 27 road tries has been 35.74 yards while that figure jumps to 39.69 yards in his 29 endeavors at home.
At the same time, three of his five career kicks of 50 or more yards have come on the road. He delivered a 52-yard boot in Dallas and a 50-yarder in St. Louis last year. This year, he drilled a 51-yarder in Seattle.
Last year, Crosby was good on 18 of 20 field goals on the road. This year, he’s made all seven.
If Crosby is looking to further entrench his name in the record book, he can attempt to join Stenerud (10-of-10 in 1981) and Longwell (12-of-12 in 2003) as the only Packers to have been perfect on the road over the course of a season.
