Mason Crosby officially retires from the NFL. Packer HOFer!

The year is 2007. It is my first few months on the morning show on B93. Every morning from 5-10am, I am doling out sports takes and life advice. Exactly what everyone wants to hear from a 22 year-old with very little experience! Please Jon, tell us more about video games and drinking!

Anyway, one thing I did have going for me was talking about the Packers, and doing that with the man who just retired from the NFL yesterday: Mason Crosby. During his first three years in the league, Mason joined us the morning after every Packer game to break it down and chop it up about the NFL. He was an easy guy to interview, relatable, down to earth, and was always honest about the team’s performance and his own performance. That’s why I wasn’t shocked at all when he was announced as a radio host this year on a sports station in Milwaukee. The guy has ‘it.’ And I will always remember how amped up I was for that first segment we had with him in 2007 because of the kick he hit in the above video. A rookie kicker with a game-winning kick in his first NFL game! And we had him on the air 18 hours later. Fun!

Now as I reflect on Mason’s 16 years in Green Bay, I think it was defined by two things:

1. Clutch kicks. That game-winner in his first game set the tone for a career of clutch kicks. He made 12 game-winning kicks during his career in Green Bay, and that obviously doesn’t count the numerous game-tying kicks he connected on. When he would hit the field in those ‘clutch’ scenarios, I always felt better than not that he was going to come through.
2. Resiliency. Maybe Ted Thompson deserves some credit here for sticking with Mason, but Crosby overcame some TOUGH years. He was awful in 2012. 63% on the season. But they stuck with him and he was 89% in 2013. He had sort of a rough year in 2017 as well (78%) and that NIGHTMARE game in Detroit in 2018 where he missed 4 field goals and an extra point in one game. The team did bring in competition for him over the years. Giorgio Tavecchio, Sam Ficken, etc. But anytime that came up, he was able to persevere. And he did all of that while he wife was battling cancer and he lost his sister-in-law to cancer. Incredible fortitude.

Now when I think of Mason Crosby, outside of the time I got to spend on the air with him, I will always think of this kick in Dallas:

I will never understand on that last kick started left and came back to the right in a dome. Crazy.

Anyway, congrats to a first ballot Packer HOFer!

PS: I knew Crosby was the Packer all time leading scorer, but I didn’t realize he’s 11th all time in NFL history. I don’t think he’s an NFL HOFer, but does he have a case? Borderline? Might be.