Packers kicker Mason Crosby missed his potential game-winning field goal so badly yesterday that the announcers immediately said it was blocked. But replays showed that no Lions players got a hand on the football.
So what happened? No replay angle shows definitively, but the ball appeared to brush a finger on the non-holding hand of Packers punter and holder Tim Masthay just after Crosby kicked it. People are scouring the video on social media and no one seems sure whether Masthay touched the ball, or whether Crosby just kicked it badly.
For his part, Crosby accepted the blame for the miss, while Masthay said he thought bad footing at Lambeau Field could have been to blame.
“I’ve been hitting the ball great this year. I felt really good on it. I’ve got to come through there. Obviously, with how the ball came off, I don’t know, my plant must not have been in the right spot,” Crosby said.
Added Masthay, “I know the footing wasn’t great in between the hashes. Did that play a role? I don’t know.”
It’s entirely possible that Crosby just kicked the ball badly, or that bad footing affected his mechanics. But it’s also entirely possible that Crosby kicked the ball well, and it touched Masthay’s finger just enough to affect the trajectory of the ball. Neither Crosby nor Masthay seems to know for sure.