So long, Mason Crosby! We’ve been waiting to say that for a while and while the day isn’t quite here yet, it might be coming soon. Giorgio Tavecchio appears to be pulling ahead in the competition to be the Green Bay Packers kicker.
Although neither guy got any action in the Packers pathetic preseason opener, Tavecchio had already taken a lead in the competition during Family Night, when he hit 6-of-7 tries and Crosby managed only 3-of-8.
During Monday’s practice, the Packers made their kickers face off again. This time, Tavecchio was a perfect 8-for-8, while Crosby went 7-for-8.
Now, that’s not quite as bad as his 3-for-8 on Family Night, but the pressure is clearly on Crosby, who hasn’t done much in pressure situations in the past year (other than choke).
Crosby hit a career-worst 63.6 percent of his field goals last season. On Monday his miss was wide left from 46. Tavecchio hit two each from 36, 42, 46 and 53 yards.
We’re not calling this yet because we haven’t seen either guy kick in a real game, but Tavecchio clearly has the edge at this point.
And that’s just fine with us. We’ve seen about enough of Mason Crosby. Besides, Giorgio Tavecchio is an awesome name, just like Jan Stenerud and Chester Marcol and those guys were pretty great kickers for the Packers.