'We need him to make those kicks': For Justin Tucker, failure is not an option

AS THE HEARTFELT speeches, boisterous laughter and other sounds of victory were dying down in the Baltimore Ravens' locker room, kicker Justin Tucker stood by his stall in sweats and a knit cap earnestly trying to explain the inexplicable.

The Ravens had just clinched a playoff berth by beating their division nemesis, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tucker defied a cold, stiff wind and an uncharacteristic spell of inconsistency to make two field goals -- including a 51-yarder -- to help propel the Ravens to a 34-17 late-December triumph. The performance was particularly satisfying for Tucker, whose two missed field goal attempts were the difference in an 18-16 loss at Pittsburgh in Week 11.

"I take it really, really personally [when I miss kicks]. As much as I try to stay positive about it, it's very real that I kind of lean into the negative reinforcement sometimes," Tucker said. "I tell myself, 'You have to make this kick if you are worth anything to this team, if you're worth anything to your teammates... You have to make this kick. You don't have a choice.'"

For the bulk of Tucker's 13-year career, it was unremarkable for him to make field goals, even the most challenging ones. Coming into this season, he had connected on 90.1% of his field goal attempts, making him the most accurate kicker in NFL history. He also helped redefine his craft by routinely making long kicks -- including an NFL-record 66-yarder in 2021.

This season, however, Tucker's greatness has proved elusive.

The kicker many teammates, rivals and analysts call the GOAT made only 73.3% of his field goal tries during the regular season, the second-worst rate among NFL kickers with at least 30 attempts. He made just six of 11 (54.5%) from 50 yards or more. Renowned for his clutch, game-winning field goals, Tucker's missed kicks accounted for the margin of defeat in three of the Ravens' five losses this season.

Most unsettling to Ravens coaches and fans is that the cause of Tucker's travails is unclear. He has no known injuries, and at 35, he is at an age when many standout kickers are still in their prime. Hall of Famer Morten Andersen retired in 2008 at age 48, after a season in which he made 89.3% of his kicks. Sebastian Janikowski retired at 41, following the 2018 season in which he connected on 81.5% of his field goal attempts. And Adam Vinatieri made nearly 90% of his kicks well into his 40s before declining in his final season and retiring at age 48.

Ravens coaches have voiced support for Tucker, who they say has looked great in practice. Even as the missed kicks mounted, head coach John Harbaugh did not bring in other kickers to compete for Tucker's job. Still, he has been blunt about his kicker's struggles.

Following a 24-19 Week 13 loss at home to the Philadelphia Eagles in which Tucker missed two field goals and an extra point, Harbaugh said he did not notice any flaws in Tucker's technique. It was the first time in his NFL career that Tucker misfired on three kicks in a game.

"I just saw the misses," Harbaugh said. "We'll go back and look at all that stuff and just do the best we can to try to figure it out. He is definitely capable of making every kick, and we need him to make those kicks."

Ravens special teams coordinator Chris Horton seems similarly mystified. He has said that Tucker's routine is the same as in years past and that he has been "smashing" the ball in practice. "There hasn't been anything unusual about him," Horton said days after the Eagles defeat. "He hasn't been making kicks. But other than that, he's been the same guy every day."

Since coming into the league, Tucker has become the archetype for a new era of NFL place-kickers with extended range and enhanced accuracy. As recently as 2007, kickers made fewer than half their kicks from 50 yards or more. Tucker established a new standard -- hitting nearly 68% of the time from 50 yards or beyond for his career -- and silencing any lingering jokes about the value and athleticism of an outstanding kicker. His example has been emulated by other NFL kickers, who made an average of nearly 70% from 50 yards or more during the 2024 season.

"I believe he is the best kicker in NFL history," said Jamie Kohl, a former NFL kicking consultant who runs a camp attended through the years by the vast majority of the league's kickers, including Tucker. "I've seen thousands and thousands of athletes try to do what he's accomplished."

Tucker has been clear about his determination to "turn over every stone," study video and look for "every little thing" to regain his form. But at times he has appeared wide-eyed and a bit stunned as he reflected on his struggles. "Each kick kind of lives in its own world," he has said several times. On other occasions, he said, each kick "is its own challenge."

After the loss at Pittsburgh during which his two misses were wide left -- as were most of his failed kicks this season -- he told reporters that, on a third, successful kick, he adjusted by aiming a bit more to the right. After the Eagles game, in which he pushed a 53-yard field goal attempt to the right of the uprights, he explained that his previous misses to the left had nothing to do with that failure.

"It was just a matter of I didn't strike the ball on the target line -- or on the exact target line that I wanted to -- on that given kick," Tucker said, explaining that he kicked the ball slightly off the intended path.

Standing in front of his locker in late December, he explained his missed kicks this way: "In the wise words of [former teammate] Terrell Suggs, 'Sometimes it just be like that.' And the ball comes off your foot, and it does not go exactly where you want it every single time."

Tucker's recent struggles loom as a potentially pivotal issue as the team enters the playoffs. The Ravens, who host the Steelers in an AFC wild-card game Saturday night, lead the NFL in total offense, as well as red zone touchdown efficiency. The team is also third in the league in scoring, averaging more than 30 points. Simply put, Baltimore has been downright scary on offense.

Lamar Jackson, one of the best passers in the league as well as the league's top rushing quarterback, and Derrick Henry, the second-leading rusher in the NFL, are undoubtedly the Ravens' top offensive weapons. Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely are among the best tight end duos in the league. Meanwhile, Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman lead the best wide receiver corps the team has had in years, although Flowers (knee) has been ruled out of Saturday's contest.

But it's playoff time, and postseason football regularly comes down to tight games played in harsh conditions, meaning the Ravens' fortunes could turn on whether Tucker recaptures his old form. In six playoff games with Jackson at quarterback, the Ravens have scored 20 or fewer points five times. The hope for Ravens fans is that their team's powerhouse offense will not struggle to score in this year's postseason and not have to lean heavily on the kicker for points. But if the offense does falter, Ravens coaches still believe Tucker can deliver.

"I'm very confident that it's going to get fixed. I believe it will," Harbaugh said. "It has to."

There are signs that Tucker is emerging from his funk. In the four games since his team's Dec. 1 loss to the Eagles, he has gone 3-for-3 on field goals -- including two from beyond 50 yards -- and hit all 18 of his extra point attempts.

But given Tucker's struggles this season, he knows doubt lurks one misfire away.

"I still remember misses that I had 12 years ago," he said. "I will wake up at night thinking about one that got away. But that's just the nature of playing this position. You have to try to treat each one like its own kick."

Other kickers say that, given the all-or-nothing nature of their jobs, a slump can take a steep mental toll, eventually eroding their technique and confidence.

Former Washington kicker Mark Moseley won the 1982 MVP -- the only kicker to win the award -- and knows firsthand the mental hurdles at play. "The kicker is so different than anybody else on the team," he said.

"They're always out there by themselves. Your job depends, solely, on the snap, the hold and the swing of your leg. But it is really a challenge between the ears."

As with every other player on the roster, Moseley said, a kicker's main goal is not to ever let their teammates down.

The difference for kickers is their performance always stands out and is never debatable: They either make a kick or miss it.

The belief needed to meet that challenge can be a fragile thing. Moseley began the 1980 season making just four of his first 14 field goal attempts. During the slump, he tried a series of adjustments, to no avail. Making matters worse, he said, was a special teams coach who critiqued every facet of his technique.

"Before you know it, you're losing that momentum, that confidence you had in your swing," Moseley said. He said he regained his form once his position coach quit and was replaced by Ted Fritsch Jr., his former long-snapper who had been cut in the preseason. "He would snap the ball in practice, and it was like things had never changed," he said. Moseley went on to make 14 of his next 19 kicks that season.

Former Ravens kicker Matt Stover, who last played in the NFL in 2009, can still recall the rough patches he endured over his 20-year career. In 2005, he missed all three of his field goal attempts in his team's opening-season loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

"I went left, I went right, I went left," Stover recalled. "You just kind of look at yourself like, all right, I have to reset a little bit. I'm a technician, so I went back and watched the film."

Stover said he made an adjustment to his technique while refocusing on the basics. He said he shortened his approach to the ball, stood less upright, slowed his process slightly and became more conscious of keeping his eye on the ball. He went on to make 30 of his next 31 kicks that season.

As much as film study helped, Stover said, it felt equally important that his teammates and coaches had his back following his disastrous first-game performance. "Ray Lewis came up to me, and so did [then-defensive coordinator] Rex Ryan," he said. "And they both said to me, 'Hey, Stove, you got that out of the way. Let's go.' That really encouraged me and made me say, 'All right, let's go.'"

Stover said he has not detected any problems with the long snaps from Nick Moore or the holds from punter Jordan Stout on Ravens field goal attempts this season. But given that Tucker has pulled most of his misses left, Stover suspects technique is the problem.

"He's just not getting off his plant foot fast enough," Stover said. "When you stay on your plant foot, everything turns to the left a little bit more and it hooks. But if you skip off your plant foot a little bit quicker, then your leg and your hips release downfield and the ball stays straight."

If Tucker's technique is indeed off, sports performance experts say pinpointing the reason can be both mysterious and fraught.

Even if a kicker can identify a subtle flaw in his technique, correcting it can be surprisingly complex. Dr. Shira A. Oretzky, a sports and clinical psychologist who has collaborated with top athletes from Olympians to NBA players, said that when elite performers suddenly struggle, their search for an answer compounds the problem.

"An athlete can kind of get in their head about a skill that's been automated or routinely performed in the past," she said. "Then they start overthinking the biomechanics, and it's almost like the brain starts to interfere with muscle memory."

When that happens, she said, the part of the brain responsible for functions such as balance, posture, coordination and fine motor control can be overridden by stress. That is why some golfers and baseball players suffer the yips or a gymnast might be stricken by the twisties.

"So, you can imagine what that means for an athlete who is trying to execute a specific skill, like kicking," she said.

Oretzky said she teaches her clients methods for shifting their focus and calming their nerves. She recommends strategies, including deep breathing, mindfulness and visualization to help keep athletes relaxed and in the moment.

"In the past, it's been thought of like, oh, it's just in someone's head," she said. "But it's actually not. It's in their nervous system."

Unlike other plays, kicks are accompanied by a dramatic buildup that brings a unique set of pressures. All the game attention is focused on one person and whether he can swing his leg through with the correct combination of force and touch. Then we all hold our breath and wait to see whether the ball will fit between the uprights standing 18 feet, 6 inches apart. Beyond that, there are the effects of the weather, plus the burden of knowing a kick could determine the emotional fate of an entire fan base.

"You go from a 60 standing heart rate to 120 to 140 real quick," Stover said on Baltimore's Glenn Clark Radio. "That's never easy. It's always hard."

It only looks easy because of the immense skill of the people doing it. Tucker, even among this gifted group, has distinguished himself as a generational talent. The irony is that his performance is judged by the high standard he helped establish throughout his career. Since signing as an undrafted free agent in 2012 out of Texas, Tucker has made first-team All-Pro five times and was named to seven Pro Bowls. He also helped the Ravens to victory in Super Bowl XLVII, hitting two field goals.

In 2022, Tucker signed a four-year, $24 million contract extension. His friendly demeanor and embrace of Baltimore, where he lives full time, has made him one of the most popular Ravens. His No. 9 jersey is frequently spotted at the team's home games. He also has appeared in local television commercials, kicked footballs around at a Baltimore park and displayed his classically trained bass-baritone performing arias at charity events.

All of which has brought Tucker a measure of grace from the team and its fans, even as each missed kick intensified the city's collective angst. Stavros Halkias, a Baltimore comedian whose raunchy, postgame riffs done in character as Ravens fanatic "Ronnie" rack up hundreds of thousands of social media views, was in a celebratory mood after Tucker made all his kicks in the victory over the Steelers.

"Justin Tucker is nailing his [expletive] kicks," Ronnie said. "Everything is going good in Baltimore, baby."

Tucker and his coaches say they have pored over every detail in hopes of putting his problems behind him. Tucker has practiced kicks in the rain. He has practiced with defenders running at him, and he has watched endless video of his performances. Tucker said he continues to stick to his training routine. But he also took time during the Ravens' mid-December bye week to catch a train to New York with his wife, Amanda, and 8-year-old son, Easton. They went to a Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall, caught "Elf the Musical" on Broadway and enjoyed several meals. He said the trip helped clear his head.

"We had a really nice time," Tucker said. "That was really good for me."

He has not missed a kick since. But he refuses to say whether he has gotten his mojo back. "I wouldn't even put it that way," he said. "That's for everybody else to say if they want to."