It’s been a tough sight for football fans to see kicker Justin Tucker struggle so frequently this season when he’s practically locked up a legacy of accuracy and clutch moments.
The Baltimore Ravens placekicker is only 19-for-27 this year in field goals (70.4%) and 42-for-44 in extra points.
He recently lost his once-thought locked-up spot as the most accurate kicker in NFL history in Week 11 after his team’s 18-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
And Sunday, he had seven points-worth of missed kicks in the five-point loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Since then, calls for Tucker’s release have become deafening to the point where head coach John Harbaugh was forced to publicly quell them with his verbal support for the 35-year-old.
But could Tucker, the man responsible for so many last-minute victories, actually be deserving of the blame for Baltimore’s losses this season?
CBS Sports researcher Doug Clawson posted a thought-provoking thread on X Monday that suggests so.
While hypotheticals will send anyone down a rabbit hole, there’s actually hard film and data to back this scenario-based query.
Four of Baltimore’s five losses contain at least one missed field goal by Tucker that, when added to the final score, would’ve given the Ravens the win.
In any other season, Tucker makes those kicks, and the team is 12-1 at worst (the 27-20 loss to the Chiefs in Week 1 came down to needing a touchdown to win despite Tucker missing a field goal early).
So, will Baltimore need to make a tough decision this offseason and cut Tucker loose, or will they give him another year to straighten things out and hopefully return to his former glory?
Tucker still has three more seasons remaining on his current contract, but the team has an escape hatch after this season that would result in an over $7.5M dead cap hit.
