Justin Tucker is having a complicated season. Against the Steelers, he missed two more kicks. His team lost by two points. The six units left on the road therefore hurt a lot.
It was only the sixth time in his career that he missed multiple kicks in a game. Six times in 206 games.
After eleven weeks of competition, Justin Tucker therefore serves as an improbable weak point for Baltimore. The unpleasant surprise at the start of the season.
But for now, don't panic. Not officially anyway.
“ I'm still confident that I'm going to go out there and make every kick“, assures the kicker to ESPN. “ One way to stay confident is to continue the work and believe in it. »
Justin Tucker, historically inaccurate
In the 2024 season, Justin Tucker has a 72.7% success rate. This is light years away from his career success rate of 89.3%. His worst single-season mark was 82.5% in 2015.
The good news is that age doesn't seem to be the problem. Tucker will celebrate his 35th birthday on November 21. But his leg is still strong enough. All his misses were sent to the left, but they were always quite long, even at over 50 yards.
“ The best option right now is to get Justin back on track, because he's totally capable of doing that. We clearly haven't lost confidence in Justin Tucker“, assured John Harbaugh to the press.
But then, what's the problem?
“ It's just a matter of technique that he's trying to sort out at the moment.“, Harbaugh clarified. “ He has a technical problem. He will overcome this. He knows exactly what it is and he just needs to smooth it out. I have confidence that he will do it. »
While Harbaugh assures that this is not the problem, the decline in Tucker's accuracy coincides with a change at the starting position for Baltimore. From 2012 to 2022, the kicker completed 90.5% of his attempts when Sam Koch held the ball for him. Jerry Rosburg, Baltimore's former special teams coordinator, said Koch was the best holder in history. Since Koch's retirement and the arrival of Jordan Stout, Tucker's passing rate has dropped to 81.4%.
Whatever the reason, things will have to be corrected. Because the Ravens are aiming for the title. And every field goal will count in the playoffs. It would be terrible to see the five-time All Pro cost them a match after so many years at the highest level.
