Bringing up a dearth of consistency within the kicking recreation, Baltimore Ravens normal supervisor Ozzie Newsome introduced that the workforce used to be liberating younger kicker Stephen Hauschka, who hours previous overlooked a 36-yard try towards the Cleveland Browns on “Monday Night Football.”
Hauschka used to be simply 9-of-13 on garden objective makes an attempt thru 9 video games, and all of his misses have been from beneath 50 yards. The Ravens changed him by means of signing distant agent Billy Cundiff, who used to be running at a mission capital company on the date.
That transaction happened in November 2009. That’s the extreme date the Ravens made an in-season, performance-based alternate at generally some of the unstable positions within the game.
Ravens schoolteacher John Harbaugh made cloudless Monday that he has refuse plans on making any other one, whilst his longtime kicker, Justin Tucker, is mired in essentially the most tricky stretch of his 13-year profession.
“There’s no thought to that,” Harbaugh mentioned. “You have to find that competition first if you’re going to be blunt about it. Where is that competition? That would be one thing. The best option right now is to get Justin back on point, because he’s fully capable of doing it. (We) certainly haven’t lost any confidence in Justin Tucker.”
Harbaugh’s feedback got here a future next Tucker overlooked two kicks in an 18-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium. Then coming into the season as essentially the most statistically correct kicker in NFL historical past, Tucker has overlooked 6 of twenty-two makes an attempt this yr, at the side of a point-after effort. Two of the misses got here from inside of 50 yards, the place Tucker had made 90 % of his kicks over his first 12 NFL seasons. His extra-point pass over used to be simply the 7th of his profession.
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“It’s certainly frustrating, especially when we know that these games come down to the wire, like this one did, that I let a couple get away,” Tucker mentioned next Sunday’s recreation. “But, like I’ve said before, the only thing that we can do is just get right back to work and focus on making the most out of our next opportunity.”
Regarded as some of the distinctive guns within the league for over a decade and the Ravens’ maximum worthy performer since he entered the league in 2012, Tucker — and by means of extension, the workforce’s garden objective operation — has abruptly change into one of the crucial causes Baltimore is shedding video games.
It’s harsh and it feels uncomfortable to mention or scribble a few man who has been the gold same old within the game at his place for a few years, however the numbers are juiceless to forget about. The Ravens’ 4 losses have come by means of a complete of 17 issues, and Tucker overlooked a garden objective in each and every of them that factored prominently within the defeats.
Tucker “needs to make kicks,” Harbaugh mentioned next Sunday’s irritating loss in Pittsburgh. “He knows that. He makes them in practice, and he made the long one (54-yarder) later, which was good to see. He’s still very capable. Kick them straight, we’ll be good.”
Lacking seven overall kicks thru 11 video games would get enough of alternative kickers a crimson slip. That’s simply the character of the location within the NFL and the superb series between successful and shedding. Kicking problems are omnipresent across the league, and Tucker is rarely lonely amongst confirmed veterans having a tricky date this season. The Fresh York Jets have had 4 other kickers in as many weeks.
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For the Ravens, on the other hand, kicking steadiness has been a relentless. Matt Stover, nicknamed “Money Matt” for his accuracy, used to be the workforce’s kicker from 1996 to 2008. Cundiff changed Hauschka in 2009 and used to be the workforce’s kicker for 3 seasons sooner than his crushing past due pass over within the AFC Championship Sport loss to the Fresh England Patriots in January 2012. Tucker arrived at the scene as an undrafted distant agent a number of months upcoming, beat out Cundiff for the activity and hasn’t overlooked a recreation in 13 seasons.
Simply the theory of creating a kicking alternate in Baltimore turns out blasphemous, given Tucker’s well-earned situation. Earlier than the 2 misses in Pittsburgh on Sunday, Tucker’s profession garden objective proportion (89.7) made him essentially the most correct kicker in NFL historical past and put him on a Corridor of Popularity monitor.
His seize kicking as a rookie in 2012 used to be instrumental within the Ravens successful their extreme Tremendous Bowl. He’s been decided on to seven Professional Bowl groups and named an All-Professional on 8 events. Age and date once more when the Ravens wanted issues, specifically past due in video games, Tucker stepped up, carried out his tried-and-true pre-kick ritual and lightly delivered. He’s prior to now been the highest-paid kicker within the game, and for just right explanation why.
Tucker’s kicking brilliance, at the side of his air of mystery, outgoing character and multitude of skills, made him one of the crucial faces of the workforce and some of the customery and recognizable athletes in Baltimore. Tucker’s Disagree. 9 jerseys aren’t juiceless to search out whilst you’re scanning the seating bowl at Ravens video games.
However this season has introduced long-avoided angst in Baltimore in regards to the functionality of the kicker and ended in a little however rising department of Baltimore’s fan bottom to query why the group hasn’t left the area, or a minimum of introduced in pageant, for its longtime big name.
“Knowing the team, knowing the character of Justin, yes, his performance in the past does warrant him the benefit of the doubt, for sure,” Stover mentioned. “But this is the NFL. It is a very immediate performance you have to have. With an objective job like being a kicker, it becomes a quick response for people to say, ‘Hey, man, what’s wrong with you? Do we need to make a change?’”
But, Stover mentioned, “He’s one of the best who has ever done it. Who are you going to get who you can guarantee will be better?”
Justin Tucker has overlooked a garden objective in each and every of the Ravens’ 4 losses this season. (David Eulitt / Getty Pictures)
Bringing in any other kicker in mid-November most likely method both signing a well-traveled veteran who hasn’t been ready to land any other activity or plucking any person off any other workforce’s apply squad. It’s unimaginable on the year that the Ravens would accept as true with a type of choices greater than Tucker at a date once they fancy themselves as Tremendous Bowl contenders.
“He’s definitely our best option, and he’s going to make a lot of kicks — I really believe that,” Harbaugh mentioned. “But it’s up to him and the guys he works with every day to make those balls go straight. Competition right now, at this time, no that’s not something we’d want for Justin.”
Stover, who’s within the Ravens’ Ring of Honor, nonetheless lives within the Baltimore department and has relationships with many crowd within the construction, together with Tucker. He additionally understands what Tucker goes thru. There have been occasions early in his profession with Cleveland when he struggled and the Browns introduced in pageant for his activity. In 1999, the Ravens claimed kicker Joe Nedney on waivers year Stover remained at the roster.
“That was brutal. He wasn’t on the practice squad. He wasn’t on IR. He was on the roster,” Stover mentioned. “It really just comes down to performance. There’s no subjectivity. I got through it.
“Justin is going through a little blip. He’s mentally strong. He’s got a great support staff around him. He’s got a head coach who totally gets it. To do it for 12 years as well as he’s done it says a lot about who he is and his character. It’s the first time he’s ever had to deal with this. I dealt with it three or four times. It was hard and it sucks. He’ll get through it.”
Stover, who trains younger kickers, said that he hasn’t damaged ill Tucker’s mechanics, however he maintains the truth that Tucker has overlooked all seven kicks broad left is a “good thing,” as a result of that steadily issues to a fixable factor. It doesn’t seem to be a leg energy factor with Tucker. Virtually all of his kicks, with the exception of one, have had the vital distance.
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There was enough of hypothesis about whether or not his problems are being brought about by means of snapping and/or protecting issues, however Tucker and others on the Ravens’ facility have persisted to mention snapper Nick Moore and holder Jordan Stout, who aren’t unutilized at this or to the workforce, are doing their jobs.
Then Sunday’s misses, Tucker retreated to the warehouse room to handle newshounds and insisted his struggles aren’t a self belief factor, both.
“I’m still confident I’m going to go out there and nail every single kick,” Tucker mentioned. “Part of the way we stay confident is by continuing to work and trust the process, and I know I might sound like a broken record, but it’s a part of what brings us success — just trusting the process and then taking it one kick at a time.”
Harbaugh, a former particular groups schoolteacher, has an overly similar courting with the kicker. Senior particular groups schoolteacher Randy Brown has been with Tucker each step of his profession and is regarded as one of the crucial supremacy kicking gurus within the league. Ravens colleague particular groups schoolteacher Sam Koch is a former holder for Tucker and one among his closest confidants.
Stout has been protecting for Tucker for 3 seasons, and Moore has been within the Ravens group since 2020. The kicking battery and training personnel have a longtime regimen that has yielded very sturdy effects for a few years.
“You try to attack everything to the utmost that we can, across the board,” Harbaugh mentioned. “Justin is one of the aspects that we’re looking at. He’s going to get it figured out. We have coaches. We have technique. We look at the tape. He’s practicing well. He’s got to kick it straight.”
(Govern photograph: Barry Reeger / Imagn Pictures)
