Cut Crosby - an OPENED letter

@BrianCarriveau

CUT HIM NOW!!

Quit while they're ahead?

 

FIFY

Kudos to Crosby for having a great game and bouncing back, but he's at a stage in his career where he's judged based on his season instead of an individual game, imo.  For the season so far he's been fantastic and coming off his adversity from last year it's a great sign that he has his skeletons back in the closet. 

 

That said he's been up and down throughout his career.  He's had long strings of good performances before.  As a well paid vet he's back in good standing (in my eyes) when he completes the season and his performance is comparable  to his peers that have the same amount of experience and take up the same amount of salary cap space.  

 

All is well so far, but he has a long way to go.  The Packers have patience with players that's nearly unheard of in modern professional sports.  Crosby's living up to his end.  Hope he can take it forward. 

Good start

 

"For the fifth time in his seven-year career, Packers kicker Mason Crosby has been named NFC special teams player of the week after tying the team record Sunday with five field goals.

Crosby is 9-for-9 this season and leads the NFC in most field goals made without a miss."

Thankfully I started this thread tongue in cheek

Salad tossing.

 

NFC Special Teams Player of Month for October: Packers K Mason Crosby

He seems to have gotten his head screwed on straight.

Why do I still hold my breath everytime he trots out there to attempt a FG?

Past history.  I think the run game is taking pressure off of everybody on this team.  

 

Because it's only October. Let's see what December/cold weather brings..

Because it's a cheap buzz.

Let's not forget that he is kicking for $$$ and a new contract.  I'm not a skeptic enough to think that he was tanking, to restructure his contract, to cashing in on a new contract.  

 

Clearly he needed a little competition and to re-focus and he has done that, Kudos Mason.  

 

Absolutely. Ginger kicks off to open the game because of his stronger leg but didn't get it deep enough, 109 yards later Vikes are up. So, the coaches go to Crosby because of his ability at directional KOs and for the most part Patterson was a non factor after that.

 

 

The coaching of the OL has been the key to the improved run game, which as Henry noted is the catalyst for everything else that is going well for the Packers. Conversely (or ipso facto as A.Bunker might say), as soon as things go south we can blame Campen.

 

 

 

In the end, McCarthy will also be judged on this decision. As was stated earlier, most kickers don't get this kind of consideration since coaches don't want to find out if they made the right decision when there's a game-winner on the line in a play-off game. I give McCarthy credit though for sticking to what he believes and working through it with Crosby. It goes a long way in developing trust with his players.

I was dead wrong on Crosby and McCarthy's and TT's approach to correcting a huge concern going into the season. I gotta' stop questioning anything these guys do (or don't do). 

Like everything TT and MM do, they don't make knee jerk reactions.  9 times out of 10 it pays off.  Neal, Crosby, J Jones, B Jones, Starks and EDS are good examples.  At some point, fans were clamoring for every one of those players to be cut.  But right now, those guys are key players on this team.   Yes, you deal with the Harrell's (both Justin and Graham) but I'd take that any day of the week.  

 

I mean, how many ex-Packers really go on to significant success elsewhere?  TT doesn't let difference makers walk.  

Started this whole thread - "tongue in cheek"   "as a joke"   Got all you rubes to respond...mission accomplished.

So this thread was started by a rube, got it.

 

Granted there were some missed tackles / bad angles, but the coaches made the change to dictate the play and not have the Vikes KOR unit dictate it.

Boris asked:

quote:

Why do I still hold my breath everytime he trots out there to attempt a FG?

Because you're a worry-wart like me?  It's OK; you're in good company.

 

Why wait?

 

This is my Campen breakdown.

 

1) The previous years showed very mediocre to piss poor pass protection and limited run game.  Not even debatable.  

 

2) Big infusion of talent focused directly on the run game via the draft

 

3) MM and the offensive staff as a whole turned their attention to the run game and the blocking scheme.  The mix of a more traditional scheme with that horse**** ZBS.  Case in point, interview that was posted here speaking about MM's attention being turned to the blocking scheme accompanied by comments from Clements and many other offensive coaches. 

 

So, if the run game starts to faulter, I will blame MM for taking his eye off the ball.  I know what Campen is and if he is a useful cog, then call him a useful cog.  Save the CAMPEN IS DOIN' A BANG UP JOB! (if you ignore the rest of his coaching career and the facts listed above)  I see Campen as a coach that does what he is told, which is just fine and dandy and has its place.  Call a spade a spade.

 

 

 ***late edit***

Have at it. I'll help you start...

James Campen is such a bad OL coach, even the blocking sleds beat his players.

Unlike last season, it doesn't hurt that Crosby is attempting a lot of short field goals.

A balanced offense finally showing confidence to power through defenses, even on 4th and short.  That in itself may be a indicator in the coaching staff's confidence in Crosby.    HERE COMES BIG ERN AND STACK OF PANCAKES!!

it is possible Campen is becoming a better coach.  Up until this year, I didn't think he helped guys elevate their games. 

Nyet.

It is possible.  Coaches have a maturation process just like players.  MM turning his focus may be the type of tutelage Campen needs and hopefully he can build on it.  Campen was working with dumb ****s like Jagodumpster and I was never that big on Philbin either.  I think Philbin had his role but on his own I don't think he's anything but average.  It has been a long held opinion of mine that Jagoputz, Philbin and Campen were average to weak spots. 

 

My personal opinion, the coaching mentality on either side of the ball has it's nuances.  MM seems to be firmly in control overall but obviously is deeply entrenched in the offense.  The defensive side of the ball seems to show more autonomy and is more fluid at times.  This isn't a condemnation/praise of either, merely a observation.

 

So could Campen finally be in a situation where he is growing?  I hope so but with his past track record he does need to prove he can keep growing without the MM training wheels.

 

 

Что нет? 

As was I every time TOG went back for pass in a crucial situation.

So far this year, he's already made 3 50 yard + field goals.  IIRC, last year he made 2 ALL SEASON.

But he attempted 9 from longer than 50, and some were from much longer than 50.

With the defense folding like a cheap suit and the QB shuffle, Crosby's hoping to just sit and go unnoticed.

Not making any excuse but what was the  wind situation when he missed the shorter one.  I checked Accuweather before the game and it was predicting 20+ mile gusts.

 

Still needs to make them tho.

To me it looked like he started both misses to the right and neither moved back left. Whether he was playing the wind to move it or whatever, neither moved much from the original line. IMO.

 

During the pregame festivities, they were using a jugs machine to launch punts for fans to compete in a contest and they were unable to get the ball out to the 50 yard line. They made several attempts and couldn't even get it reasonably close so the contestant didn't even have a chance. They were launching North to South. The flags on the top of the stadium from the west to the east. Sitting in the south endzone, the wind felt like it was coming from the east. The flags on the goal posts weren't moving much. I couldn't believe it when McCarthy sent him out for the 53 yarder.