Mason Crosby provides finishing kicks for Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Mason Crosby became a Super Bowl champion in his native state of Texas six years ago.

Yet, his finest moment -- make that, collective moments -- as a record-setting kicker for the Packers just might have come Sunday back in Texas.

Crosby's 51-yard field goal as time expired lifted the upstart Packers to a 34-31 knockout of the top-seeded Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round of the playoffs at AT&T Stadium on Sunday.

"He's the best kicker in the league," quarterback Aaron Rodgers praised afterward. "He's incredible."

Crosby's game-winner happened not long after his 56-yard field goal put the Packers ahead 31-28 with 1 minute, 33 seconds to play. Cowboys counterpart Dan Bailey, however, answered that with a 52-yard field goal 58 seconds later, setting up the dramatic finish.

"Obviously, to get the win and make those kicks, that's one I'll remember for a long time," said Crosby, a 10th-year pro. "Being a Texas boy, growing up here and being able to do that here in Dallas and in Dallas' stadium is special to me. Obviously, getting the win, that's the most important thing."

Crosby said he grew up a Cowboys fan. He still makes his home in Georgetown, Texas, which is two hours south of AT&T Stadium.

That's where he and the Packers won Super Bowl XLV, 31-25 over the Pittsburgh Steelers, at the end of the 2010 season. Crosby made a 23-yard field goal in the closing minutes of that game to cap the scoring.

That field goal is the third of an ongoing NFL-record 23 in a row Crosby has made in the playoffs. His last postseason miss was in the divisional round during the 2010 season, a 50-yard kick that hit off the upright in the Packers' lopsided road win over the top-seeded Atlanta Falcons.

Incidentally, the Packers play the higher-seeded Falcons at the Georgia Dome for the NFC Championship on Sunday. The winner advances to Super Bowl LI on Feb. 5 in Houston, about a 2 1/2-hour drive from Crosby's offseason home.

"To see Mason operating inside, it's pretty flawless," head coach Mike McCarthy said Monday. "He's a machine."

McCarthy said the team had the utmost confidence in Crosby coming through with the 51-yard field goal at the end of Sunday's game after he made the 56-yard try a short time earlier. Crosby had to kick the game-winner twice because the Cowboys called a timeout a split second before the football was snapped and kicked through the uprights.

Crosby said the 56-yard field goal was more nerve-racking.

"Just kind of the situation and needing that," he said. "But, the 51(-yarder), having to do it twice, definitely a lot going on on that kick. To be able to snap, hold, protect twice in a row, that made it easier for me."

Crosby is the first player in league history to make two field goals of at least 50 yards in the final two minutes of a playoff game.