The worst season of Ravens kicker Justin Tucker’s career continued to unfold against the Steelers on Sunday.
Tucker missed field goals of 47 and 50 yards in the first half of Baltimore’s 18-16 loss to their AFC North rivals and his field goal percentage is now 72.7 for the season. That run of rough kicking has dropped him behind Eddy Pineiro on the list of the all-time most accurate field goal kickers in NFL history and his struggles were magnified by Steelers kicker Chris Boswell going 6-of-6 on field goals to score all of his team’s points.
After the game, Tucker said it’s “certainly frustrating” to keep missing kicks and didn’t have an explanation for why he’s missing all of his kicks to the left. He did hit a 54-yard kick in the second half and said he remains confident in his ability to do the job.
“I’m still confident I’m going to go out there and nail every single kick,” Tucker said, via the team’s website. “Part of the way we stay confident is by continuing to work and trust the process. I might sound like a broken record, but it’s a part of what brings us success — is just trusting the process and then taking it one kick at a time.”
Tucker’s long history of success means the Ravens aren’t going to be beating the bushes for alternatives down the stretch, but patience has its limits and continued misses that help swing games against the Ravens would make it something the team has to consider as they plan for the future.
