When the end comes for a kicker, it comes fast. The Ravens’ Justin Tucker, the finest kicker in NFL history, may or may not be done … but he’s missing a whole lot of field goals that he used to make. And that’s causing some real problems for a Baltimore team with Super Bowl aspirations.
In the first quarter of Sunday’s crucial division matchup in Pittsburgh, Tucker missed field goals of 47 and 50 yards, kicks that should be well within his range. For his career, he’s 119 of 133 on kicks from 40 to 49 yards, and 60 of 90 on kicks of 50 to 59 yards. For his career, he makes field goals at an 89.7 percent clip … at least, coming into Sunday.
So far this season, Tucker has missed six of his 21 field goal attempts. Against Las Vegas earlier this year, he missed a 56-yarder that would prove crucial in the Ravens’ 26-23 loss. He missed a 50-yarder early in the fourth quarter of Baltimore’s 29-24 loss to Cleveland that would have changed the Ravens’ entire late-game strategy.
Tucker has 22 game-winning field goals in his career, most notably the 66-yarder on Sept. 26, 2021, to knock off the Detroit Lions. He’s earned the right to kick through struggles. The question for Baltimore and head coach John Harbaugh now is, is this just a struggle … or is this Tucker’s new normal?
