BALTIMORE (AP) — The most accurate kicker in NFL history is in an inexplicable slump.
Justin Tucker sprayed kicks to the left, right and off the upright Sunday in the Baltimore Ravens' 24-19 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Coming into the game, Tucker had connected on 89.4% of his field-goal tries, the best percentage by anyone who has put his foot to the ball in the NFL (with at least 150 going through the uprights).
He was successful from 34 and 50 yards against the Eagles, but Tucker also hooked a kick wide left from 47 yards out and sent the ball soaring right of the target on a 53-yard try.
Both of those missed kicks came in the third quarter with the Ravens trailing 14-12. Earlier, the seven-time Pro Bowler banged a conversion kick off an upright after Baltimore bolted to a 9-0 lead.
“As simply as I can put it, I missed the kicks, and I’ll leave it at that," Tucker said. “I just left the points out there. I feel like I cost us this one, but it doesn’t really do anybody any good to dwell on it. The only thing that we can do — that I can do — is just continue to work, move forward, take it one kick at a time.”
Ravens coach John Harbaugh can't explain why a kicker who was virtually a sure thing from anywhere inside 60 yards suddenly can't connect on the easiest of tries.
“We'll go back and look at all that stuff and try to do the best we can to try to figure it out,” Harbaugh said. “He's definitely capable of making every kick. We need him to make those kicks, and nobody wants to make them more than Justin, I promise you that.”
The Ravens (8-5) have a bye next week, and there are no plans to hold a tryout for kickers.
“If you're asking me if we're going to move on from Justin Tucker, I'm not really planning on doing that right now. I don't think that would be wise,” Harbaugh said. "He'll be the first to tell you he has to make as many kicks as he can. And if you look at Justin Tucker's history, I would say he's capable of doing that.”
Indeed, since entering the league in 2012, Tucker has connected on 62 field-goal tries from at least 50 yards, including an NFL record 66-yarder at Detroit in 2021. Tucker came into Sunday's game with a 93.6% success rate in the second half and overtime — the best mark in NFL history with at least 100 attempts.
But against the Eagles, his two blown kicks in the second half put Baltimore in a bad spot. Just two weeks earlier, Tucker missed two field-goal tries in an 18-16 loss to division rival Pittsburgh, leaving Baltimore to attempt an ill-fated 2-point conversion with 1:06 left.
Suddenly, a player with 20 career game-winning kicks is being forced to talk about his misses.
“I hate that I’ve had to have this same conversation over the course of this season,” Tucker said, “but that’s something that comes with the territory in this job description. The kicks are either good or they’re not, and today, I did not do a good enough job to help our team win the football game.”
His teammates can't believe that Mr. Automatic has suddenly become Mr. Maybe.
“I said this to some of the guys on the sideline: I think this is normal for kickers, but we've been so blessed by Tucker's eliteness that we kind of take it for granted,” cornerback Marlon Humphrey said. “We used to sit there when he gets out there and know it's going in. But I think great players, they get out of those slumps at the right moment. And I think Tucker's one of those guys.”
___
AP NFL coverage: NFL Scores, News & Stats ' Latest NFL News