Citing a scarcity of consistency within the kicking recreation, Baltimore Ravens common supervisor Ozzie Newsome introduced that the staff was releasing younger kicker Stephen Hauschka, who hours earlier missed a 36-yard try towards the Cleveland Browns on “Monday Evening Soccer.”
Hauschka was simply 9-of-13 on discipline objective makes an attempt by 9 video games, and all of his misses had been from below 50 yards. The Ravens changed him by signing free agent Billy Cundiff, who was working at a enterprise capital agency on the time.
That transaction occurred in November 2009. That’s the final time the Ravens made an in-season, performance-based change at sometimes one of the vital risky positions within the sport.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh made clear Monday that he has no plans on making one other one, at the same time as his longtime kicker, Justin Tucker, is mired in essentially the most troublesome stretch of his 13-year profession.
“There’s no thought to that,” Harbaugh stated. “You need to discover that competitors first when you’re going to be blunt about it. The place is that competitors? That will be one factor. The most suitable choice proper now’s to get Justin again on level, as a result of he’s totally able to doing it. (We) actually haven’t misplaced any confidence in Justin Tucker.”
Harbaugh’s feedback got here a day after Tucker missed two kicks in an 18-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium. After getting into the season as essentially the most statistically correct kicker in NFL historical past, Tucker has missed 6 of twenty-two makes an attempt this 12 months, together with a point-after attempt. Two of the misses got here from inside 50 yards, the place Tucker had made 90 % of his kicks over his first 12 NFL seasons. His extra-point miss was simply the seventh of his profession.
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“It’s actually irritating, particularly once we know that these video games come right down to the wire, like this one did, that I let a pair get away,” Tucker stated after Sunday’s recreation. “However, like I’ve stated earlier than, the one factor that we are able to do is simply get proper again to work and concentrate on making essentially the most out of our subsequent alternative.”
Thought of one of the vital distinctive weapons within the league for over a decade and the Ravens’ most dependable performer since he entered the league in 2012, Tucker — and by extension, the staff’s discipline objective operation — has abruptly develop into one of many causes Baltimore is dropping video games.
It’s harsh and it feels uncomfortable to say or write a couple of man who has been the gold commonplace within the sport at his place for a few years, however the numbers are laborious to disregard. The Ravens’ 4 losses have come by a complete of 17 factors, and Tucker missed a discipline objective in every of them that factored prominently within the defeats.
Tucker “must make kicks,” Harbaugh stated after Sunday’s irritating loss in Pittsburgh. “He is aware of that. He makes them in follow, and he made the lengthy one (54-yarder) later, which was good to see. He’s nonetheless very succesful. Kick them straight, we’ll be good.”
Lacking seven whole kicks by 11 video games would get loads of different kickers a pink slip. That’s simply the character of the place within the NFL and the wonderful line between successful and dropping. Kicking points are omnipresent across the league, and Tucker is hardly alone amongst confirmed veterans having a tricky time this season. The New York Jets have had 4 totally different kickers in as many weeks.
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For the Ravens, nevertheless, kicking stability has been a relentless. Matt Stover, nicknamed “Cash Matt” for his accuracy, was the staff’s kicker from 1996 to 2008. Cundiff changed Hauschka in 2009 and was the staff’s kicker for 3 seasons earlier than his crushing late miss within the AFC Championship Recreation loss to the New England Patriots in January 2012. Tucker arrived on the scene as an undrafted free agent a number of months later, beat out Cundiff for the job and hasn’t missed a recreation in 13 seasons.
Simply the thought of constructing a kicking change in Baltimore appears blasphemous, given Tucker’s well-earned standing. Earlier than the 2 misses in Pittsburgh on Sunday, Tucker’s profession discipline objective proportion (89.7) made him essentially the most correct kicker in NFL historical past and put him on a Corridor of Fame monitor.
His clutch kicking as a rookie in 2012 was instrumental within the Ravens successful their final Tremendous Bowl. He’s been chosen to seven Professional Bowl groups and named an All-Professional on eight events. Time and time once more when the Ravens wanted factors, notably late in video games, Tucker stepped up, carried out his tried-and-true pre-kick ritual and calmly delivered. He’s beforehand been the highest-paid kicker within the sport, and for good cause.
Tucker’s kicking brilliance, alongside together with his charisma, outgoing persona and multitude of skills, made him one of many faces of the staff and one of the vital widespread and recognizable athletes in Baltimore. Tucker’s No. 9 jerseys aren’t laborious to seek out if you’re scanning the seating bowl at Ravens video games.
However this season has introduced long-avoided angst in Baltimore concerning the efficiency of the kicker and led to a small however rising section of Baltimore’s fan base to query why the group hasn’t moved on, or not less than introduced in competitors, for its longtime star.
“Understanding the staff, understanding the character of Justin, sure, his efficiency prior to now does warrant him the advantage of the doubt, for certain,” Stover stated. “However that is the NFL. It’s a very rapid efficiency you must have. With an goal job like being a kicker, it turns into a fast response for individuals to say, ‘Hey, man, what’s fallacious with you? Do we have to make a change?’”
But, Stover stated, “He’s probably the greatest who has ever achieved it. Who’re you going to get who you’ll be able to assure can be higher?”
Justin Tucker has missed a discipline objective in every of the Ravens’ 4 losses this season. (David Eulitt / Getty Pictures)
Bringing in one other kicker in mid-November probably means both signing a well-traveled veteran who hasn’t been capable of land one other job or plucking somebody off one other staff’s follow squad. It’s inconceivable for the time being that the Ravens would belief a type of choices greater than Tucker at a time after they fancy themselves as Tremendous Bowl contenders.
“He’s undoubtedly our greatest possibility, and he’s going to make a number of kicks — I actually consider that,” Harbaugh stated. “But it surely’s as much as him and the fellows he works with each day to make these balls go straight. Competitors proper now, at the moment, no that’s not one thing we’d need for Justin.”
Stover, who’s within the Ravens’ Ring of Honor, nonetheless lives within the Baltimore space and has relationships with many individuals within the constructing, together with Tucker. He additionally understands what Tucker goes by. There have been instances early in his profession with Cleveland when he struggled and the Browns introduced in competitors for his job. In 1999, the Ravens claimed kicker Joe Nedney on waivers whereas Stover remained on the roster.
“That was brutal. He wasn’t on the follow squad. He wasn’t on IR. He was on the roster,” Stover stated. “It actually simply comes right down to efficiency. There’s no subjectivity. I received by it.
“Justin goes by a little bit blip. He’s mentally robust. He’s received an important help workers round him. He’s received a head coach who completely will get it. To do it for 12 years in addition to he’s achieved it says loads about who he’s and his character. It’s the primary time he’s ever needed to cope with this. I handled it three or 4 instances. It was laborious and it sucks. He’ll get by it.”
Stover, who trains younger kickers, acknowledged that he hasn’t damaged down Tucker’s mechanics, however he maintains the truth that Tucker has missed all seven kicks extensive left is a “good factor,” as a result of that usually factors to a fixable situation. It doesn’t look like a leg energy situation with Tucker. Nearly all of his kicks, besides one, have had the mandatory distance.
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There was loads of hypothesis about whether or not his points are being attributable to snapping and/or holding issues, however Tucker and others on the Ravens’ facility have continued to say snapper Nick Moore and holder Jordan Stout, who aren’t new at this or to the staff, are doing their jobs.
After Sunday’s misses, Tucker retreated to the locker room to handle reporters and insisted his struggles aren’t a confidence situation, both.
“I’m nonetheless assured I’m going to go on the market and nail each single kick,” Tucker stated. “A part of the way in which we keep assured is by persevering with to work and belief the method, and I do know I would sound like a damaged document, but it surely’s part of what brings us success — simply trusting the method after which taking it one kick at a time.”
Harbaugh, a former particular groups coach, has a really shut relationship with the kicker. Senior particular groups coach Randy Brown has been with Tucker each step of his profession and is taken into account one of many prime kicking gurus within the league. Ravens assistant particular groups coach Sam Koch is a former holder for Tucker and one in all his closest confidants.
Stout has been holding for Tucker for 3 seasons, and Moore has been within the Ravens group since 2020. The kicking battery and training workers have a longtime routine that has yielded very robust outcomes for a few years.
“You attempt to assault the whole lot to the utmost that we are able to, throughout the board,” Harbaugh stated. “Justin is without doubt one of the features that we’re . He’s going to get it found out. Now we have coaches. Now we have approach. We take a look at the tape. He’s training effectively. He’s received to kick it straight.”
(High photograph: Barry Reeger / Imagn Pictures)