One of the biggest concerns the Green Bay Packers faced going into the season was at the kicker position. Instead of bringing back the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, Mason Crosby, the Packers opted to draft Anders Carlson in the sixth round. At the time of the selection, it was an incredibly unpopular move among the fanbase.
These concerns continued during training camp and preseason games, as Carlson was very inconsistent with his accuracy. Many believed that he would be a liability to the team in the regular season.
All the while, Crosby has remained available. While he has gotten workouts with several NFL teams throughout the course of the season, he has yet to land a new job and remains a free agent.
On Thanksgiving, Carlson missed a 63-yard field goal attempt and an extra point, leading the recently retired Bryan Bulaga to urge the Packers to call Crosby.
Bryan Bulaga Urges the Green Bay Packers to Get Mason Crosby Back to Replace Anders Carlson
As many fans are aware, Bulaga recently retired from the NFL as a Green Bay Packer. He is also a regular now on ESPN Milwaukee. Bulaga is also a passionate fan, rooting for his former team, and he does not think Carlson is the Packers’ answer at kicker:
That’s two weeks In a row for the kicking game on extra points . Time to call@crosbykicks2 because those are the things that end up biting you in the ass later on in games
— Bryan Bulaga (@BBulaga) November 23, 2023
Fortunately for Green Bay, Carlson’s missed extra point did not affect the outcome of the game. That being said, Bulaga’s statement does make one wonder how the rookie kicker compares to his predecessor.
How Is Anders Carlson Performing Compared to Mason Crosby?
As Bulaga points out, this was the second week in a row in which Carlson missed an extra point. On the season, he is 20/23 on extra point attempts (87.0%). It is true, Crosby never had that low of a extra point percentage in a season.
That being said, Crosby was far from perfect all the time. In 2020, when the Packers’ offense lit the world on fire, Crosby made 59/63 extra point attempts (93.7%), meaning, of course, that he missed four. That year, Green Bay only had him attempt 16 field goals (he made them all).
Many seem to have forgotten 2021, which saw Crosby make just 25/34 field goal attempts (73.5%). Last year, he made 25/29 (86.2%) and has a career average of just 81.1%.
As a rookie, Crosby made 31/39 field goals (79.5%). This year, Carlson has made 15/19 (78.9%).
In other words, they have very similar numbers with Carlson bringing in the added bonus of being able to kick the ball into the endzone on kickoffs.
Crosby was a rookie back in 2007, and Bulaga did not get drafted until 2010. He did not witness first hand the growing pains a young kicker has in the NFL because by the time he got there, Crosby was an established veteran (even so, Crosby missed six field goals in 2010).
While it is easy to see where Bulaga is coming from, and it is easily presumed he wants his former teammate to have a job, the fact of the matter is that the Packers have firmly hitched their wagon to Carlson.
And as the numbers show, he isn’t that much different than Crosby.
For More Great Wisconsin Sports Content
Follow me on Twitter at @theotherRobin19 and follow us @WiSportsHeroics for more great content. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in Wisconsin sports, click here!
1 Comment
With that attitude of running from cover on a rookie kicker we should have calledGeorge Blanca to replace Love after week 5. Give him a chance he will get it together