GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Whatever caused Mason Crosby’s game-winning field goal try to fly so low at the end of Sunday's loss to the Detroit Lions, it wasn’t because it hit Tim Masthay’s hand.
To be sure, the Green Bay Packers’ holder said he actually went back to the video on Monday after he heard that might have been the case.
“We heard this rumor, and it caught me off guard because I didn’t see it or feel it,” Masthay said Monday. “And I just wanted to clarify it by getting a close-up on the video. But no, it doesn’t appear to touch my hand.”
It’s tough to tell on the TV copy of the game, but Masthay said they were able to zoom in on their footage.
“It’s a reasonable thing to ask because it was an unusual ball flight,” Masthay said. “But no, it doesn’t appear to have touched or glanced my finger or anything. Mason and I work together as a unit, and it’s not like anybody’s pointing fingers in this locker room or anything like that. But we wanted to check it out because it’s something that has to be addressed if it had happened, but it doesn’t appear like that.”
Crosby said after the game that he “felt like maybe I hit high on the ball,” which caused the 52-yard attempt to knuckle and barely clear the linemen, making it almost appear that it was blocked.
Masthay said the field was chewed up at the spot, and just before the kick Crosby noticed a depression in the turf. Still, they decided to stay at that spot, and it may have contributed to the mis-hit.
“When we looked at the film, it looked his toe might’ve glanced at a little bit of a higher spot of ground behind it, if that makes sense,” Masthay said, “and caused him to maybe hit high on the ball.”
