The best way to understand Baltimore’s Justin Tucker’s kicking woes is to ask other kickers what’s going on. So I did. In fact, I asked the best person ever to do it.
Lawrence Tynes kicked the game-winning field goals in both NFC title games, sending the Giants to the Super Bowl. Tynes, who played for three NFL teams from 2001 to 2013, was one of the most clutch kickers of his generation. He won two Super Bowls.
What Tynes has to say is important, and it will be very interesting to see what he thinks happened to Tucker.
“I was watching from the couch,” Tynes told USA TODAY Sports. “He has a mechanical defect that causes him to miss all his kicks. He doesn’t seem to be able to fix the cause and keeps missing left-ins.” – Game.
“I say during the game because I’m sure he was able to fix it during practice. Games are different.”
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Bill Belichick said something similar on “Let’s Go!” Podcast.
“From a technique standpoint, there’s obviously a little bit of a difference,” Belichick explained, “but I don’t think there’s a lack of talent. I think there’s something mechanical that he’s not doing consistently. I think, “If you have that key” and can solve that problem, then maybe everything will be fine.
“But obviously this goes back a little bit to last year, too, because we had accuracy issues last year in the ’23 season and this season. So I think Coach (John) Harbaugh is doing the right thing.”I think Justin I’ll stick with Tucker. He’s a very accurate kicker on the ball. He’s clearly going through a bit of a rough patch here, but that’s not the case. It doesn’t seem to me that his level of talent has declined. I think there’s always something that isn’t mechanically right and they have to try hard to find it. ”
Tucker has missed five kicks in the last three games. For Tucker, this is like a regular kicker missing 50 points. Tucker is the kicker Avenger. (We don’t know if he’s Thor, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, or the guy with the arrow, but we get it.)
All in all, what’s going on with him right now is one of the most outlandish stories, not just in the NFL, but in all of sports.
But enough about Belichick. Return to Tynes. For the record, as a kick nerd, I could listen to Tynes for days. He’s really attractive.
“Inevitably, you can overcompensate for mistakes on the left or mistakes on the right, and he did that on Sunday,” Tynes continued.
Tucker missed an extra point and two field goals in Baltimore’s 24-19 loss to Philadelphia.
“In summary, he is suffering mentally, that’s the bottom line,” he said.
How will Tucker solve this? No one knows. If so, it would have already been fixed.
What is clear is that the Ravens have a difficult choice to make. Mr. Harbaugh will be able to lean on Mr. Tucker and hope that he will solve the problem. If he does, the team will continue to play and have a strong chance of making the playoffs.
Alternatively, Harbaugh could stick with Tucker and if the kicker can’t fix the problem, he could miss the kick and cost the team a playoff game.
These are not easy choices.
Tynes, as he always does, summed it all up perfectly.
“He’s the greatest kicker of all time who never had a mini-slump in his career,” Tynes said. “This is his first game and to be honest, he’s not handling it well. You don’t want to be a Raven right now, yeah, you believe he can fix it, but What if he doesn’t do that and we lose a playoff game because of him? ”
Yeah, this won’t be easy for the Ravens.
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