The Ravens say they aren't considering a giant move, but Justin Tucker is a priority

Baltimore Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome announced that the team would release junior kicker Stephen Hauschka, who missed a 36-yard attempt against the Cleveland Browns hours earlier on “Monday Night Football,” citing an absence of consistency within the kicking game.

Hauschka made just 9 of 13 field goal attempts in nine games, and all of his misses got here from lower than 50 yards. The Ravens replaced him by signing free agent Billy Cundiff, who was working at a enterprise capital firm on the time.

This transaction took place in November 2009. That was the last time the Ravens made a season-long performance-based move at what is often some of the volatile positions in sports.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh made it clear Monday that he has no plans to play again, whilst his longtime kicker Justin Tucker is in essentially the most difficult stretch of his 13-year profession.

“It’s out of the question,” Harbaugh said. “You have to find that competition first, if you want to put it bluntly. Where is this competition? That would be one thing. The best option right now is to get Justin back on track because he's fully capable of doing that. (We) certainly haven’t lost any confidence in Justin Tucker.”

Harbaugh's comments got here a day after Tucker missed two shots in an 18-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium. After entering the season as essentially the most statistically accurate kicker in NFL history, Tucker has missed 6 of twenty-two attempts this 12 months, including attempt after attempt. Two of the misses got here from lower than 50 yards, where Tucker had made 90 percent of his shots in his first 12 NFL seasons. His missed extra point was only the seventh of his profession.

“It's definitely frustrating, especially when we know in these games it's coming down to the wire, like in this case, I let a couple get away,” Tucker said after Sunday's game. “But like I said, the only thing we can do is just get back to work and focus on making the most of our next opportunity.”

Tucker has been considered one in every of the league's most unusual weapons for over a decade and has been the Ravens' most reliable player since entering the league in 2012. He is suddenly one in every of the explanation why Baltimore is so successful at losing games.

It's hard and it feels uncomfortable to say or write a few man who has been the gold standard in the game at his position for a few years, however the numbers are hard to disregard. The Ravens' 4 losses resulted in a complete of 17 points, and Tucker missed a field goal in each of those defeats, which contributed significantly to the defeats.

Tucker “has to make kicks,” Harbaugh said after Sunday’s frustrating loss in Pittsburgh. “He knows that. He makes them in practice, and later he made the long one (54-yarder), which was good to see. He is still very capable. Kick it straight, we’ll be good.”

Missing a complete of seven kicks in eleven games would give many other kickers a pink slip. That's just the character of the situation within the NFL and the skinny line between victory and defeat. Kicking problems are common across the league, and Tucker isn't alone among the many proven veterans having a troublesome time this season. The New York Jets have had 4 different kickers in as many weeks.

For the Ravens, nonetheless, kicking stability has been a continuing. Matt Stover, nicknamed “Money Matt” due to his accuracy, was the team's kicker from 1996 to 2008. Cundiff replaced Hauschka in 2009 and was the team's kicker for 3 seasons before his devastating miss within the AFC Championship Game loss to the New England Patriots in January 2012. Tucker burst onto the scene as an undrafted free agent a couple of months later , beat Cundiff for the job and hasn't missed a game in 13 seasons.

The very idea of ​​making a decisive change in Baltimore seems blasphemous given Tucker's well-deserved status. Before Sunday's two misses in Pittsburgh, Tucker's profession field goal percentage (89.7) made him essentially the most accurate kicker in NFL history and put him within the Hall of Fame.

His success as a rookie in 2012 was instrumental within the Ravens winning their last Super Bowl. He was chosen to seven Pro Bowl teams and was named All-Pro eight times. Time and time again when the Ravens needed points, especially late in games, Tucker stepped up, performed his tried-and-true pre-kick ritual and calmly delivered. He has been the highest-paid kicker in the game so far, and for good reason.

Tucker's brilliance at kicking, along together with his charisma, outgoing personality and multitude of talents made him one in every of the faces of the team and some of the popular and well-known athletes in Baltimore. Tucker's number 9 jerseys aren't hard to seek out when the seating bowl at Ravens games.

But this season has raised long-held fears in Baltimore in regards to the kicker's performance and left a small but growing portion of Baltimore's fan base wondering why the organization hasn't moved on or at the least introduced competition for Star in an extended time.

“If you know the team, know Justin's character, yes, his past performance certainly warrants the benefit of the doubt in him,” Stover said. “But that is the NFL. It's a really immediate achievement to have. In an objective job like that of a kicker, it's a fast response for people to say, 'Hey man, what's fallacious with you?' Do we’d like to alter something?'”

Still, Stover said, “He's probably the greatest to ever do it. “Who are you going to get that you can guarantee is better?”

Bringing in one other kicker in mid-November likely means either signing a well-traveled veteran who couldn't get one other job or bringing in someone from one other team's practice squad. It's unimaginable immediately that the Ravens would trust any of those options greater than Tucker at a time after they consider themselves Super Bowl contenders.

“He’s definitely our best option and he’s going to make a lot of kicks – I really believe that,” Harbaugh said. “But it’s up to him and the guys he works with every day to make sure the balls go right. Competition right now, no, that’s not something we want for Justin.”

Stover, who’s within the Ravens' Ring of Honor, still lives within the Baltimore area and has relationships with many individuals within the constructing, including Tucker. He also understands what Tucker goes through. There were times early in his profession with Cleveland when he struggled and the Browns brought competition for his job. In 1999, the Ravens claimed kicker Joe Nedney off waivers while Stover remained on the roster.

“That was brutal. He wasn't on the practice squad. He wasn't on IR. He was in the squad,” Stover said. “It really just comes down to performance. There is no subjectivity. I got through it.

“Justin is going through a bit of a crisis. He is mentally strong. He has a great support team around him. He has a head coach who totally gets it. The fact that he did it as well as he did for 12 years says a lot about who he is and what character he has. It's the first time he's had to deal with this. I've dealt with it three or four times. It was hard and it sucks. He’ll get through it.”

Stover, who coaches young kickers, admitted he hasn't broken Tucker's mechanics, but maintains the incontrovertible fact that Tucker missed all seven kicks wide to the left is a “good thing” because that usually indicates a fixable problem. Tucker doesn't appear to have a problem with leg strength. Almost all of his kicks, except one, had the essential distance.

There has been numerous speculation as as to if his issues are attributable to snapping and/or holding issues, but Tucker and others within the Ravens facility continued to inform snapper Nick Moore and holder Jordan Stout, who are usually not recent on this or that area, to the team , do their work.

After Sunday's misses, Tucker retreated to the locker room to handle reporters and emphasized that his issues weren't a confidence issue either.

“I’m still confident that I’m going to go out there and nail every single kick,” Tucker said. “One of the ways we stay confident is by continuing to work and trusting the process, and I know I may sound like a broken record, but it's part of what makes us successful – just trusting the process and then to give a kick.” one time.”

Harbaugh, a former special teams coach, has a really close relationship with the kicker. Senior special teams coach Randy Brown has guided Tucker through every phase of his profession and is taken into account one in every of the league's top kicking gurus. Ravens assistant special teams coach Sam Koch is a former owner of Tucker and one in every of his closest confidants.

Stout has played for Tucker for 3 seasons and Moore has been within the Ravens organization since 2020. The kicking battery and training staff have a longtime routine that has produced very strong results over a few years.

“You try to attack everything as best you can across the board,” Harbaugh said. “Justin is one of the aspects we are looking at. He'll find out. We have coaches. We have technology. We'll watch the tape. He practices well. He has to do it right.”