Justin Tucker's "Crushing" Career-Worst Performance Adds to Ravens’ Woes

Baltimore Ravens fans saw a weird scene Sunday as one of the franchise icons, Justin Tucker, had an unprecedented performance in the 24-19 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. As one of the finest kickers in NFL history, Tucker missed two field goals and an extra point, thus leaving seven crucial points on the board in a closely fought game.Also read - "It was frustrating": Christian McCaffrey’s season in doubt after knee injury, Kyle Shanahan provides brutal updateThis has been a series of tough games for Tucker, but Sunday was perhaps the lowest. His first mistake came on an extra point attempt that caromed off the left upright, keeping the Ravens from taking a 10-0 lead. Two subsequent attempts, from 47 and 53 yards, sailed wide left and wide right, respectively, to make matters worse. He had made two field goals earlier in the game, from 34 and 50 yards."As simply as I can put it, I missed the kicks. And I’ll leave it at that," Tucker said post-game. "I feel like I cost us this one. But it doesn’t really do anybody any good to dwell on it."As such, with Tucker hitting on only 19-of-27 shots this season, the drop from his usual level is alarming. Before that season he had missed a total of seven field goals, as in 2015. Harbaugh didn't waver when discussing the reliability of Tucker by hugging him after he had just misfired his second attempt."He’ll be the first to tell you that he needs to make kicks," Harbaugh stated. "But if you look at Justin Tucker’s history, he’s capable of doing that."The unsettling regularity of Tucker's misses has attracted notice—seven of his tries this season have sailed well left. Writing about the trend last month, Tucker said:"The adjustment is pretty clear. I just need to make it a point not to let the ball carry to the left. That’s something we’ll continue working on in practice."Tucker was visibly upset after the game, and he said that the loss weighed on him."It's crushing," he admitted. "But at the end of the day, my feelings really don't matter. What matters is getting back to work and doing everything I can to help this football team."While adversity may be against him, Tucker remains committed to his improvement, promising to get ahead one kick at a time. His teammates and coaching staff share in the optimism knowing the talent and dedication that he brings to the team.Even though the Ravens suffered a setback in a must-win game, Harbaugh's continued endorsement indicates confidence in Tucker's capacity to recover. "The kicks are either good or they're not," Tucker said. "Today, I did not do a good enough job to help our team win the football game."Also read - Patrick Mahomes reacts with three words to Josh Allen’s stunning trick play against 49ers