Getty Image / Justin K. Aller
The Baltimore Ravens are loaded. The offense is probably the best in the league, the defense is stout against the run, and John Harbaugh has a real chance to win his second Super Bowl as a head coach this season.
But, legendary kicker Justin Tucker continues to hurt the Baltimore Ravens with missed kick after missed kick. Jim Harbaugh says they’re sticking with Tucker, but that could be the wrong move.
Tucker had been struggling on the long field goals that he used to be the absolute best in the league at the last few years. In the last two seasons, he’s just 4-12 on kicks of over 50 yards in the last two years. The two years prior he was 15-20, with most of the misses coming from kicks over 60 yards. And, he never used to miss shorter kicks. Now, he’s become unreliable on those.
Things came to a head on Sunday. The Ravens were locked in a tight battle with the Pittsburgh Steelers in a crucial divisional game they ultimately lost, 18-16. Justin Tucker missed two field goals in the game, those being 47-yard and 50-yard attempts. They were early in the game, and who knows how the rest of the game plays out if he makes them. But, those are points that the Ravens sure would’ve loved to have. Contrast that to Pittsburgh kicker Chris Boswell, who was 6-6 on the day, and it becomes clear what the difference in the game was.
On Monday, John Harbaugh was asked about bringing in other kickers this week to compete with Justin Tucker.
“No, no, there’s no thought to that,” Harbaugh said. “The best option right now is to get Justin back on point. Because he’s fully capable of doing it, certainly haven’t lost any confidence in Justin Tucker. You saw that on the 54-yarder we sent him out for, and he drilled it. That’s the Justin Tucker that he wants to see and we all want to see on every kick. He’s definitely our best option, and he’s going to make a lot of kicks, I really believe that, going forward. But it’s up to him. It’s up to him and the guys he works with every day to make those balls go straight. Competition right now, at this time, no, that’s not something we want for Justin. We’ve just got to compete to get better and make those kicks.
I get the loyalty to a franchise legend, as Tucker has been reliable for most of his thirteen-year career. But, this team losing a playoff game because of poor kicking would be a disaster. John Harbaugh might be making the wrong move. And, it may cost him the Super Bowl.