Going from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers was a dream come true.
With the keys to 1265 Lombardi Ave being served on a golden platter to Jordan Love, it seems like a new installment of what is now a trilogy to the fairy tale, with hopefully a happily-ever-after ending (and a mounted Bears head on the wall).
While the Packers have had this almost delusional good luck at the QB position, they’ve also been pretty lucky at kicker as well.
From 1989-2022, the Pack were fortunate to grab themselves three of the four top scorers in franchise history: Chris Jacke, Ryan Longwell and Mason Crosby.
Crosby is the Packers’ all-time leading scorer with 1,918 points having played from 2007-2022, Longwell (traitor) being second with 1054 points from ‘97-‘05, and Jacke being fourth on the list with 820 points, from ‘89-‘96.
It’s incredible how a team can be this lucky. Perhaps when Curly Lambeau chose to take the colors from the University of Notre Dame for the Packers, that “luck of the Irish” had a pause for a couple decades through the 70’s and 80’s.
Making field goals is of course so important and this article would probably cease to even exist if Anders Carlson WOULD’VE MADE THE 41 YARD FIELD GOAL AGAINST SAN FRAN IN JANUARY. Anyways, though the ball going through the uprights is crucial, the Packers’ special teams continue to be treacherous as well.
We embark on a new season with the following:
1. A new kicker Brayden Narveson, who didn’t go through camp in Green Bay.
2. Another year of special teams coach Rich Bassacia, trying to get out of the basement in special team’s rankings.
Kicking trouble
First things first, Mason Crosby’s time in Green Bay had to end and will (should) stay that way.
If anyone thinks that we can bring him back, just do a quick YouTube search and you’ll find him missing a 54-yard potential game winner for the Giants last season, with what looked to be very minimal leg strength.
Going back to training camp, the Packers held a kicking battle between Anders Carlson and Greg Joseph. In their first game against the Cleveland Browns on August 10, Carlson went 2/2 with a long of 46 and Joseph went 1/1 long of 35.
Flashing forward to the Denver Broncos game on August 18, the lone field-goal attempt came from Joseph, who missed from 47 yards, as the Packers lost 27-2. Lastly, on what seemed to be a great day for Joseph, he went 2/2 on field goals, and his long coming from 55, surpassed Carlson’s long of the game (54 yards), in a 30-7 win over the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday, August 24th. Carlson would miss a 32-yard field goal to end his preseason with the team.
On August 27, the Packers cut Carlson, paving the way for Joseph to make the 53. On August 28, however, the Packers claimed Brayden Narveson off waivers from the Tennessee Titans, which resulted in the release of Joseph.
Narveson had a spectacular preseason with the Titans, going 6/7 in three games, and a long of 59 yards. What’s very troubling is Packers General Manager, Brian Gutekunst take on special teams, as he stated, “I probably need to be a little bit more patient.”
Special Teams Woes
Gutekunst has been GM since 2018 and in those seasons since, the Packers have finished for a combined average of 28th in the league for ranked special teams, according to Rick Gosselin.
Bisaccia was brought in as the special teams coordinator for the 2022 season and finished 22nd in the rankings. This is due in part to Keisean Nixon going absolutely ballistic by having 1,009 kick return yards that season. Five of his returns were for 50+ yards and one of them being a 105-yard return for a touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings in a 41-17 win on New Year’s Day, 2023.
Though the Packers had improved in the special teams’ rankings, they fell once again to 29th place the following season.
The Gosselin standings are determined by a point system and the criteria goes on, but last year the one sub discipline that stands out is penalties. The Packers finished worst among 32 teams with 19 penalties for 178 yards.
The Bisaccia signing was supposed to end this slump, and that’s not coming to fruition, which frustrates fans as he is one of the highest paid special team coordinators in the league. With that high of a contract for a coordinator, you’d have an expectation that you wouldn’t be finishing as worst for a discipline such as penalties.
The definitions of coordinator, discipline and penalties do not mesh very well.
Gutekunst
All of this isn’t to say that Gutekunst pulled the trigger too quickly on Carlson, it’s undeniable that he just isn’t his brother Daniel Carlson from the Las Vegas Raiders, nor is there certainty we’d get a non-Minnesota Vikings Greg Joseph-type kicker for the regular season.
While the kicking position isn’t as complex as the Quarterback position, bringing in a brand-new leg who wasn’t in your organization’s training camp and hasn’t worked with the holder or snapper in game, right before the start of games that actually matter, makes Gutekunst look more like a degenerate gambler than someone who just couldn’t hold his horses.
As day two of the NFL season kicks off on Friday in São Paulo, Brazil, perhaps Corinthians arena, home of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, will serve as a good-luck charm to new kicker Narveson and the rest of Bisaccia’s crew in the race to February 9th, Super Bowl LIX.
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