Miss, miss, miss, miss, miss — Kicker Crosby finally wins it
CINCINNATI — Green Bay kicker Mason Crosby’s fell into a nightmarish Sunday as the afternoon grew late and a stiff wind kept the flag billowing to the left in Paul Brown Stadium.
The historically reliable kicker missed three straight potential winning field-goal attempts before hitting a 49yarder in overtime to lift the Packers (4-1) to a 25-22 win over the Bengals.
Crosby had a chance to hit a potentially decisive kick with 2:12 left, and again with three seconds remaining in regulation. Both went wide left. He got another chance to win it in overtime; again he missed left.
The Bengals’ Evan McPherson also missed on shots that could have won the game — with 26 seconds left in regulation and again in overtime. In almost eight minutes of game time from Crosby’s first miss to McPherson’s second, there were five missed fieldgoal attempts.
Improbably, Crosby got one more try to redeem himself.
“The fact that we kept getting opportunities, you’ve got to give it up to our team, the way we fought to get in that position again,“said Crosby, who’d converted all six fieldgoal tries and 11 PAT attempts in the first four games. “And I just wanted so badly to come through there. I had a couple go bad there, and I’m just happy to hit that last one. There was a little bit of relief.”
Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur talked to Crosby before deciding to send him out again on 4th-and-inches from the Cincinnati 32.
“I went over to Mason and I said, ‘Hey, what do you think?’ I saw the look in his eyes. There was zero flinch from him,” LaFleur said. “If I felt anything different, we were going for it.”
McPherson believed so strongly in his 49-yard attempt to win the game in OT that he celebrated by leaping into holder Kevin Huber’s arms, before realizing the kick sailed wide left.
“I mean, I honestly was celebrating before the ball, I guess, curved to the left,” McPherson said. “Maybe a gust of wind caught it at the last second. I struck it well. You know I’m upset about it but there’s nothing I can do about it now.”
Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who threw for 344 yards and two touchdowns, said, “Both teams tried to lose that game a few times.”
Cincinnati tied the score late in the fourth period. Joe Mixon bounced right for an 8-yard touchdown run, and Joe Burrow hit Tee Higgins in the back of the end zone for the twopoint conversion with 3:27 left.
Crosby was set up for a 36yard shot with 2:12 left. After that miss, the Bengals drove to the Packers’ 47, but McPherson’s attempt bounced off the right upright with 26 seconds left. Then it was Crosby’s turn to miss again, a 51-yard try.
In overtime, Burrow’s pass was intercepted by linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, but Crosby missed his third straight.
Burrow was taken to the hospital as a precaution after the game for a possible throat contusion, the team said. Burrow threw for 260 yards and two touchdowns but also took a beating from the Green Bay defense.