Green Bay Packers kicker Mason Crosby entered Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals on something of a heater. He had made 27 consecutive field goal attempts and 27 of his previous 28 extra-point attempts dating from last season.
What followed, then, almost defied explanation (though it was a little breezy in Cincinnati on Sunday). Crosby not only hit the left upright after Green Bay’s first touchdown of the day in the second quarter, but he also missed three consecutive field goal attempts late in the fourth quarter and in overtime.
He wasn’t alone. His Bengals counterpart, Evan McPherson, missed a 57-yard attempt that would have given Cincinnati a three-point lead with 21 seconds left. He then missed a 49-yarder in overtime that would have given the Bengals the win, prematurely celebrating what he thought was a good kick.
Out of the last seven drives of the Green Bay-Cincinnati game, five ended with missed field goals.
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After the game, Crosby described his woes as a “cluster” of missed kicks. It was more like an epidemic: On Sunday, NFL kickers missed 12 extra points — tying the Super Bowl-era record for most in one week set in Week 11 of 2016 — and shanked 12 field goal attempts. It was the first time since the NFL moved back the extra-point line of scrimmage in 2015 that kickers missed double-digit attempts on both field goals and extra points in the same week.
This season, NFL kickers are converting only 92.4 percent of their extra-point attempts from the 15-yard line, the lowest success rate since the 1979 season (91.3 percent), when extra points were attempted from the 2-yard line.
Kickers have made all six of their field goal attempts this season from 32 yards, the same distance as extra points. And there has been only one field goal miss on attempts from 32 yards or closer, and that came off the foot of Dallas Cowboys kicker Greg Zuerlein in the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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But score a touchdown and ask the kickers to convert the point after, and suddenly there’s an increasing case of the yips.
The Houston Texans’ Ka’imi Fairbairn missed extra-point attempts after consecutive touchdown drives against the Patriots, his two errant kicks sandwiching a missed extra point by New England’s Nick Folk. Nonetheless, Houston Coach David Culley called on Fairbairn to try a 56-yard attempt in the fourth quarter with his team holding a 22-15 lead.
Not only had Fairbairn missed the two extra points, but he also had never made a field goal longer than 55 yards in his career. Fairbairn missed the long attempt Sunday, the Patriots took over near midfield, and they needed only seven plays to tie the score with a touchdown. The Texans would eventually lose, 25-22, on Folk’s 21-yard field goal with 15 seconds left.
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“The decision there was the fact that we felt like he was in his range,” Culley said. “He’s our kicker. Got the utmost confidence in him. He had a tough day up to that point but had made one. We felt if we made that field goal it’s a two-score ballgame. That’s why I made the decision to kick.”
Fairbairn, who was playing in his first game of the season after an injury suffered in the Texans’ preseason finale, also kicked the ball out of bounds after his first missed extra point, giving the Patriots the ball at their 40-yard line. Nonetheless, Culley said “I haven’t even thought about” finding a new kicker, which would be the third of the season for Houston.
Crosby ended up redeeming himself by kicking the game-winning 49-yard field goal late in the overtime period.
“Sounds boring, but I’ve been in it for a long time, and make or miss, you move to the next one. You kind of go through the process for a play or two and then you have to reload,” he told Peter King after the game. “When [Coach Matt LaFleur] came right down to me he just said, ‘What are you thinking?’ And of course I wanted to kick it.
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“It’s my job. I just keep resetting. I haven’t missed many kicks the last few years. Unfortunately it came in a little bit of a cluster here, but I know my ability and when everything is smooth and good, we go out there and execute. It was another opportunity. Just couldn’t believe with how crazy this game was that we had another chance. But when there’s chaos, when the challenge gets even higher and the pressure gets greater, you have to find that calm. I’m able to do that. I want to be out there. If you get too high, you won’t find that calm.”
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