ExtremeRavens Posted yesterday at 12:30 PM Posted yesterday at 12:30 PM Tyler Loop will live with his missed 44-yard field goal attempt that ended the Ravens’ season in Pittsburgh. That’s part of the job. What he shouldn’t have to live with is the avalanche of harassment that has followed, directed not just at him, but at the people he loves. An NFL kicker’s responsibility is brutally simple and unforgiving. Make it, and you’re the hero. Miss it, and you own the ending. Loop mishit the ball, catching a bit of the ground and sending it spinning wide right. Season over. That critical mistake deserves scrutiny. It should also welcome additional competition at the position when training camp opens. The Ravens should absolutely bring in another kicker and make Loop earn the job again. What often gets lost in these moments, though, is what comes next, and how players respond when the ending is theirs to wear. Last postseason, after Baltimore’s AFC divisional round loss in Buffalo, veteran tight end Mark Andrews did not speak publicly after a critical end zone drop and a fourth-quarter fumble. He wasn’t available postgame and he didn’t address his performance at the ensuing locker room clean-out day. Outside of an Instagram post, the entire offseason passed without a real-life explanation for his drop on a game-tying 2-point conversion attempt inside the final two minutes. Under similar circumstances of failure in a do-or-die spot, Loop chose a different path. Inside the visitors’ locker room Sunday night at Acrisure Stadium, Loop bravely stood and answered 11 questions for nearly eight minutes. The rookie sixth-round draft pick explained exactly what went wrong technically. He described the moment he knew the kick was off, the instant his foot connected with the ball. Zero deflection. Full accountability. “The result didn’t match my process,” Loop said. “I’m super blessed to be here, and it’s been one of the most amazing experiences being kicker for the Ravens. It’s time to move forward and get back to work, so I can keep doing good things for Baltimore.” Loop also spoke about his teammates having his back, as long snapper Nick Moore and punter/holder Jordan Stout flanked him while he endured the spotlight. When I asked what he was reading at his locker moments after, Loop explained that he was rereading a prayer that he had written before the game. It was a reminder of faith and perspective, an excerpt from Romans 8, that he’s here to love on the people around him, to be a good teammate and steward the opportunity he’s been given, even when the moment hurts. “Just being placed in Baltimore with this team has been the biggest blessing of my life,” Loop said. “I’m super grateful for it. It’s been incredible, so I’m just reminding myself that, ‘Hey, God has my back even when stuff sucks.’” It was a thoughtful, humane moment. And it was all happening while something far darker brewed online. In the hours after the loss, Loop and his fiancée, Julia Otto, were on the receiving end of nonstop harassment across social media. Fans flooded the comments section of the couple’s joint Instagram post that celebrated their engagement. One message read, “Hope you get divorced.” Other nasty messages escalated further with threats. The volume on the post ballooned over 12,000 comments before the couple smartly shut off public replies altogether. The off-the-field threats directed at Loop’s family and fiancée are absurd. Unfortunately, the fallout from Loop’s missed game-winning field goal attempt is part of the reality of social media. We live in a crazy world, one in which a missed kick can invite cruelty from people who have never met the person on the other end of it, in which anger travels faster than empathy and consequences feel optional behind a screen. My video of Loop’s news conference has generated nearly 4 million views across just Instagram and TikTok. One of the most engaged comments reads: “Can you walk us through the worst moment of your life in detail.” That’s exactly what he did. Back inside the visitors’ locker room, Loop was doing what fans of the NFL’s multi-billion dollar empire often say they want from athletes in moments of failure. He absolutely owned it. Outside, the response quickly veered away from criticism and into something personal and dangerous. It’s unacceptable. Loop addressing his mistake does nothing to absolve him of his missed kick. None of it guarantees his future, either, after Loop led the league in kickoff infractions with eight. But the 24-year-old from Lucas, Texas, deserves some off-field grace. The game and Baltimore’s season ended in Pittsburgh. The cruelty unfairly followed Loop and his family home. Have a news tip? Contact Josh Tolentino at jtolentino@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200, x.com/JCTSportsand instagram.com/JCTSports. View the full article Quote
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