GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Just about everyone in Mason Crosby’s family was there Sunday at AT&T Stadium. His parents, his sister, two nephews and a niece. Everyone watched -- and celebrated -- as he kicked two field goals in the final 93 seconds to send the Green Bay Packers to this weekend’s NFC Championship Game.
Everyone except his brother, Rees, and sister-in-law, Brittany.
Rees and his wife were back in the Crosby clan's hometown of Georgetown, Texas, where Brittany just started chemotherapy treatments for ovarian cancer. At age 27, she was diagnosed less than a month ago.
Yet Rees and Brittany were with Crosby more than anyone could have known as he celebrated the 51-yard game winner against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
“They weren't able to be there, but I know they were there in spirit,” Crosby said Monday. “So it was awesome.”
All Crosby had to do was look down at his right wrist and see the blue band he started wearing a little more than a week ago. His parents brought it up to Green Bay for the Packers' wild-card playoff game against the New York Giants. He wore it during the 38-13 win at Lambeau Field, but no one could see it because Crosby was wearing long sleeves.
“Sometimes, just depending on who it is, [officials] might make you take stuff off or cover it up,” Crosby said. “They didn’t say anything.”
He hasn’t taken the wristband off since.
“It says, ‘We stand together,’” Crosby said as he showed it off. “Everyone’s just trying to show support and keep the fight going. It’s crazy at 27, it’s very rare to have [at that age].”
Crosby remained the center of attention back in Green Bay the day after the Packers’ win against the Cowboys, but his heart might as well have been in Texas. He and his brother have a close relationship; Rees sends him motivational texts all the time, but Crosby needed no other motivation on Sunday than what was on his right wrist.
“I appreciate him so much and his support over my career,” Crosby said. “Just think about them all the time. They’re very young and battling cancer, it’s tough. So yeah, just try to support them as much as possible.”
If the Packers beat the Falcons in Atlanta on Sunday, the Crosby crew will have another chance to convene in their home state. Super Bowl LI is in Houston. Crosby’s only other Super Bowl appearance also came in Texas, where the Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers at AT&T Stadium in Super Bowl XLV.
It’s been a wild ride for the 32-year-old Crosby since then. He struggled through a career-worst season in 2012, when he made just 63.6 percent of his kicks. More recently, he has been on a remarkable run, making 87.5 percent of his field goals, including playoffs, dating to the start of the 2013 season.
Against the Cowboys, he became the first kicker to make two field goals of 50-plus yards -- he had a 56-yarder with 1:33 to play to go along with the winner -- in the final two minutes of a playoff game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“Especially after he hit the first one, it was just a matter of [when] he’s going to do it again,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “He’s so consistent in just his personality, his work ethic, and I’m really happy for him too, to go back home and make that kick. That’s always fun.”
Crosby has made an NFL-record 23 consecutive postseason field goals and is 26-of-28 on postseason attempts in his career.
Usually when the Packers line up for a kick, defensive end Datone Jones, who is on the field goal protection team as a left wing, has the same message for Crosby.
“Right down the middle,” Jones says.
But he didn’t say anything on that last kick on Sunday.
“I didn’t want to get in his head right before that last kick, so I didn’t say anything,” Jones said. “I didn’t want to say anything to break his rhythm.”
Little did Jones know that Crosby had all the guidance he needed right there on his wrist.
“I didn’t know about that,” said Jones, whose locker at Lambeau Field is two stalls over from Crosby. “That’s huge for him and his family. He’s playing for a lot.”