Ravens say they’re not considering a major change, but Justin Tucker is cause for concern
Citing a lack of consistency in the kicking game, Baltimore Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome announced that the team was releasing junior kicker Stephen Hauschka, who missed a 36-yard attempt hours earlier against the Cleveland Browns on “Monday Night Football” .
Hauschka was just 9 of 13 on field goal attempts through nine games, and all of his misses came from within 50 yards. The Ravens replaced him by signing free agent Billy Cundiff, who was working at a venture capital firm at the time.
That trade took place in November 2009. That’s the last time the Ravens made a performance-based change during the season at typically one of the most volatile positions in the sport.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh made it clear Monday that he has no plans to make another one, even as his longtime kicker, Justin Tucker, is mired in the toughest stretch of his 13-year career.
“No thought was given to that,” Harbaugh said. “You have to find that competition first if you want to be blunt about it. Where is that competition? That would be one thing. The best option at this point is to get Justin back on track, as he is fully capable of doing so. (We) certainly haven’t lost any confidence in Justin Tucker.
Harbaugh’s comments came a day after Tucker missed two kicks in an 18-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium. After starting the season as the most statistically accurate kicker in NFL history, Tucker has missed 6 of 22 attempts this year, along with a point-after attempt. Two of the misses came from inside 50 yards, where Tucker had made 90 percent of his kicks over his first 12 NFL seasons. His extra point miss was just the seventh of his career.
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“It’s definitely frustrating, especially when we know these games are on the line, like this one, and I’ve let a few get away,” Tucker said after Sunday’s game. “But as I’ve said before, all we can do is just get back to work and focus on making the most of our next opportunity.”
Tucker has been considered one of the league’s most unique weapons for more than a decade and the Ravens’ most reliable player since entering the league in 2012. Tucker — and by extension, the team’s field goal operation — has suddenly become one of the reasons why Baltimore is losing games.
It’s harsh and it feels uncomfortable to say or write about a man who has been the gold standard in the sport at his position for years, but the numbers are hard to ignore. The Ravens’ four losses totaled 17 points, and Tucker missed a field goal in each of them which played a prominent role in the defeats.
Tucker “has to make kicks,” Harbaugh said after Sunday’s frustrating loss at Pittsburgh. ‘He knows that. He makes them in practice, and he made the long (54-yarder) later, which was good to see. He is still very capable. Kick them straight and we’ll be fine.”
Missing a total of seven kicks in eleven games would leave many other kickers with a pink slip. That’s just the nature of the position in the NFL and the fine line between winning and losing. Kicking issues are ubiquitous in the league, and Tucker is certainly not alone among the proven veterans who are struggling this season. The New York Jets have had four different kickers in as many weeks.
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For the Ravens, however, kicking stability has been a constant. Matt Stover, nicknamed “Money Matt” for his accuracy, was the team’s kicker from 1996 to 2008. Cundiff replaced Hauschka in 2009 and was the team’s kicker for three seasons before making his crushing late miss in the loss of the AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots. in January 2012. Tucker burst onto the scene several months later as an undrafted free agent, beating out Cundiff for the job and has not done so. missed a game in 13 seasons.
The very idea of making radical change in Baltimore seems blasphemous, given Tucker’s well-deserved status. Before the two misses in Pittsburgh on Sunday, Tucker’s field goal percentage (89.7) made him the most accurate kicker in NFL history and put him in a Hall of Fame job.
His kick as a rookie in 2012 was instrumental in the Ravens winning the last Super Bowl. He has been selected to seven Pro Bowl teams and named All-Pro eight times. Time and time again when the Ravens needed points, especially late in games, Tucker stepped up, performed his tried-and-true pre-kick ritual and calmly conceded. He was previously the highest-paid kicker in the sport, and for good reason.
Tucker’s brilliance, along with his charisma, outgoing personality and multitude of talents, made him one of the faces of the team and one of the most popular and recognizable athletes in Baltimore. Tucker’s No. 9 jerseys aren’t hard to find if you scan the seating bowl at Ravens games.
But this season has sparked long-avoided anxiety in Baltimore about the kicker’s performance and led a small but growing portion of Baltimore’s fan base to wonder why the organization hasn’t made progress, or at least competition, in so long has brought. star.
“Knowing the team and knowing Justin’s character, his past performance definitely gives him the benefit of the doubt,” Stover said. “But this is the NFL. It’s a very immediate achievement that you have to have. With an objective job as a kicker, it becomes a quick response from people to say, “Hey man, what’s going on with you? Should we change anything?’”
Still, Stover said, “He’s one of the best to ever do it. Who are you going to get that you can guarantee will be better?”
Justin Tucker has missed a field goal in each of the Ravens’ four losses this season. (David Eulitt/Getty Images)
Bringing in a new kicker in mid-November likely means either signing a well-traveled veteran who hasn’t been able to land another job or plucking someone from another team’s practice squad. It’s unthinkable at this point that the Ravens would trust any of those options more than Tucker at a time when they consider themselves Super Bowl contenders.
“He’s definitely our best option, and he’s going to make a lot of kicks — I really believe that,” Harbaugh said. “But it’s up to him and the guys he works with every day to make those balls go straight. Competition right now, no, that’s not something we want for Justin.
Stover, who is in the Ravens’ Ring of Honor, still lives in the Baltimore area and has relationships with many people in the building, including Tucker. He also understands what Tucker is going through. There were times early in his career in Cleveland when he struggled and the Browns brought competition for his job. In 1999, the Ravens claimed kicker Joe Nedney off waivers, while Stover remained on the roster.
“That was cruel. He wasn’t on the practice squad. He wasn’t on IR. He was on the roster,” Stover said. “It really just comes down to performance. There is no subjectivity. I got through it.
‘Justin is going through a bit of a dip. He is mentally strong. He has a great support staff around him. He has a head coach who completely understands it. The fact that he has done so well for twelve years says a lot about who he is and his character. It’s the first time he’s had to deal with this. I’ve had to deal with it three or four times. It was hard and it sucks. He will get through it.”
Stover, who trains young kickers, acknowledged that he hasn’t broken down Tucker’s mechanics, but he maintains that the fact that Tucker missed all seven kicks wide left is a “good thing” because that often points to a problem that can be dissolved. It doesn’t appear to be a leg strength issue with Tucker. Almost all of his kicks, except one, have had the necessary distance.
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There has been a lot of speculation about whether his issues are caused by grappling and/or retention issues, but Tucker and others at the Ravens facility continue to say snapper Nick Moore and holder Jordan Stout, who are not new here or to the team, do their job.
After Sunday’s misses, Tucker retreated to the locker room to address reporters and emphasized that his struggles are not a confidence issue either.
“I’m still confident that I’m going to go out there and score every kick,” Tucker said. “Part of the way we stay confident is by continuing to work and trust the process, and I know I may sound like a broken record, but it’s part of what brings us success – just trusting the process and then give it a kick. a while.”
Harbaugh, a former special teams coach, has a very close relationship with the kicker. Senior special teams coach Randy Brown has been with Tucker every step of his career and is considered one of the best kicking gurus in the league. Ravens assistant special teams coach Sam Koch is a former holder of Tucker and one of his closest confidantes.
Stout has played for Tucker for three seasons and Moore has been part of the Ravens organization since 2020. The kick-off and the technical staff have a fixed routine that has produced very strong results for years.
“You try to attack everything as best you can, across the board,” Harbaugh said. “Justin is one of the aspects we are looking at. He’s going to find out. We have coaches. We have technology. We look at the tape. He is practicing well. He needs to get started on it right away.”
(Top photo: Barry Reeger / Imagn Images)
