For the past several years, Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker has been one of the most reliable and consistent kickers in the entire league. This season, however, he has been one of the worst.
So far this season, Justin Tucker has made just 72.7 percent of his field goals – by far the worst percentage of his entire career.
Tucker’s struggles played a big role in the team’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers over the weekend as he made just one of three field goal attempts in a game where the Ravens ultimately lost 18-16.
Despite his performance this season, head coach John Harbaugh has no plans to bring in other kickers to compete with him.
“No, no, there’s no thought to that,” Harbaugh said according to Pro Football Talk. “The best option right now is to get Justin back on point. Because he’s fully capable of doing it, certainly haven’t lost any confidence in Justin Tucker.”
Harbaugh pointed out that Tucker is still one of the most talented kickers in the league and said he is “definitely our best option” going forward.
“You saw that on the 54-yarder we sent him out for, and he drilled it. That’s the Justin Tucker that he wants to see and we all want to see on every kick. He’s definitely our best option, and he’s going to make a lot of kicks, I really believe that, going forward,” Harbaugh said.
Still, he acknowledges that Tucker does need to be better.
“But it’s up to him. It’s up to him and the guys he works with every day to make those balls go straight. Competition right now, at this time, no, that’s not something we want for Justin. We’ve just got to compete to get better and make those kicks,” he said.
We’ll have to see whether or not Tucker is able to bounce back this season.
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