On Sunday, Mason Crosby became the Packers all-time scoring leader passing another kicker, Ryan Longwell, for the honors. For most teams, the kicker is typically the scoring leader. After all, every time he touches the ball it’s either in an effort to score or just following a score. Add to the the fact that the position is a low-impact one and the tenure of a kicker far out-distances the other players on the team.
Still, Longwell had a ton of points under his belt and Mason had a sizable cold streak where we were wondering if he might be cut from the team. But, he persevered and now sits atop the leader-board as the Packers all-time leading scorer.
It’s impressive but it doesn’t impress me quite as much as the Packer kicker who’s in third place with 823 points.
You can read more about him in Before There Were Helmets, but Hutson was the Packers’ star receiver in an era when there wasn’t much passing going on. He scored 99 touchdowns in just 11 seasons as a Packer. That was an NFL record that stood for 44 years before Steve Largent broke it in 1989. That amazes me.
In addition to the touchdowns, Don kicked 7 field goals and 172 extra points.
The man never got a rest during the game, playing both ways and on special teams as well. Not to minimize Mason’s accomplishment at all, but, to me, the fact that Hutson ranks 3rd on the list is astounding.