Ravens back Tucker after kicking woes continue

BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Ravens continued to express confidence in Justin Tucker after the worst game of the seven-time Pro Bowl kicker’s career.

Tucker failed to convert two field goals and an extra point Sunday, which proved to be the difference in a 24-19 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. This marked the first time in Tucker’s 13 seasons in the NFL that he missed three kicks in a game.

In a matter of three months, Tucker went from being the most accurate kicker in NFL history to having his job on the team questioned.

“If you’re asking me, ‘Are we going to move on from Justin Tucker?’ I’m not really planning on doing that right now,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “I don’t think that’d be wise.”

After his extra-point attempt hit off the left upright in the first quarter, Tucker had two chances to put Baltimore ahead in the third quarter. With the Ravens trailing 14-12, Tucker missed wide left on a 47-yard attempt and pushed a 53-yard try wide right. It looked like a high snap might have factored into the last miss, but that was no consolation for Tucker.

“I feel like I cost us this one, but it doesn’t really do anybody any good to dwell on it,” Tucker said. “The only thing that we can do — that I can do — is just continue to work, move forward, take it one kick at a time. I hate that I’ve had to have this same conversation over the course of this season, but that’s something that comes with the territory in this job description. The kicks are either good or they’re not, and today, I did not do a good enough job to help our team win the football game.”

Tucker made two field goals Sunday, hitting from 34 yards in the first quarter and from 50 yards just before halftime. But the repeated misses have become a surprising storyline for Tucker, who had held the highest field goal conversion rate in NFL history for most of the past eight seasons.

Tucker’s eight missed field goals are his most in any single season.

Asked if he has confidence in Tucker, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson quickly replied, “Hell yes.”

Jackson added, “He’s the GOAT still. Let’s get back to who he is, that’s all. Whatever is going on, just block it out.”

Tucker, 35, is the lone remaining member of the Ravens’ last Super Bowl championship team in 2012. He entered this season with an NFL-best 90.2% success rate, making 395 of 438 field goals. It was only three years ago when he set the NFL record by hitting a 66-yard field goal in Detroit.

Tucker’s track record of consistency and clutch kicks is why his struggles this season have been so unsettling. Through 13 weeks this season, Tucker ranks 33rd in the NFL with a 70.4% conversion rate (19-of-27). His 10 missed kicks (eight field goals and two extra points) lead the NFL.

“He’ll be the first to tell you he needs to make kicks, because he can,” Harbaugh said. “I just think if you look at Justin Tucker’s history, you’d have to say he’s capable of doing that. That’s something that he’s going to want to do, and we’re all going to want him to do it.”

This is Tucker’s biggest slump, but it’s not his only one. Tucker’s previous worst season came in 2015, when he missed seven field goals. The next season, he bounced back to make 38-of-39 field goals (97.4%).

Tucker said he will use the upcoming bye week to figure out what he needs to correct.

“We’re going to turn over every stone,” Tucker said. “I will do that, individually, for sure, just to address any and all issues I may have with my technique, anything tangible, anything concrete that I can make it a point to remedy. The only thing that we can do is just back to work and do the things that we know will help our team win football games.”