ExtremeRavens Posted December 2 Posted December 2 Each time John Harbaugh has been asked whether Justin Tucker’s struggles might warrant bringing in another kicker to compete with the future Hall of Famer, the Ravens coach has been quick to denounce the possibility. Monday was the first time he acknowledged the contrary. “I don’t think there’d be anything wrong with that,” Harbaugh said Monday afternoon. He was clear that if the Ravens reached that point, he wouldn’t want it to come off as sending a message to Tucker. Harbaugh said he has talked to senior special teams coach Randy Brown about available names but “there’s nobody nearly as good as Justin Tucker out there.” After his third missed kick in Sunday’s 24-19 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, CBS cameras zoomed in on Tucker walking off the tee box, looking back to the uprights saying, “Come on!” Harbaugh met him over on the sideline for a quick hug. “Hey, you’re gonna make the game-winner,” Harbaugh recalled telling Tucker. “Get ready to make the game-winner.” That chance never came. Harbaugh’s trust in Baltimore’s longest-tenured player hasn’t wavered but even his slight change of tone could be a telling sign. The Football Database lists three kickers currently on NFL practice squads: Alex Hale (Green Bay), Charlie Smyth (New Orleans) and Matthew Wright (Kansas City). Wright helped the Chiefs escape with a win against Las Vegas on Friday before being sent back down. Spotrac lists two available free agents: 34-year-old veteran Randy Bullock and 25-year-old Riley Patterson. Tucker, a 12-year veteran, spoke with Baltimore’s coach of 16 years on Monday morning. “I know what I have to do,” Tucker told him. “I just have to do it in those situations.” Easier said than done. This season, he’s connected on 19 of 27 field goal attempts. His eight missed field goals and two missed extra points are both career highs. His most troubling distance — perhaps obviously, but there was a time he made it look easy — is from beyond 50 yards, accounting for five errant kicks. The other three have been between 40 and 49 yards. READER POLL: Should the Ravens replace kicker Justin Tucker this season? A few of his recent misses have been costly. Tucker missed one field goal against the Raiders in Week 2, a three-point home loss. He missed two last month against Pittsburgh, a two-point road loss with AFC North implications. And on Sunday against the Eagles, his misses again proved vital. “I feel like I cost us this one, but it doesn’t really do anybody any good to dwell on it,” Tucker said after the game. “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.” According to NextGenStats, the Ravens’ win probability Sunday dropped 28.4% because of Tucker’s trio of misses. His eight misses have accounted for the Ravens losing a combined 61.6% in win probability, the seventh-most of any kicker. Even if his misses aren’t in decisive moments, they’ve been a clear setback, particularly in the losses. For reference, between 2016 and 2023, perhaps the greatest kicker ever gave his team a combined 167.1% increase in win probability. That’s four-fold better than any other kicker and emblematic of how crucial he has been to the team’s success in recent memory. That’s much of the reason Harbaugh has remained so steadfast. “We’re racking our brains, talking to Justin and looking at what we’re doing,” Harbaugh said. “I’m very confident that it’s gonna get fixed. I believe it will. It has to. And he’s the guy to get it fixed.” Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn. View the full article Quote
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