Justin Tucker has been the greatest football kicker in the league for some time now but his performance for the Ravens against the Eagles had fans questioning if it's time for the player to hang up his cleats. The kicker holds the record for the longest field goal of all time and has always been one of the steadiest players in the league when it comes to conversion percentage.
This year has been the toughest of his career, and it came to a head against the Eagles. He missed an extra point in the first quarter, but one could overlook it as he made a couple of field goals.
In the second half, though, even that excuse vanished for the Ravens kicker, as he was called upon twice in the third quarter to make a field goal and missed both. One went wide right, while the other went to the left. Entering the fourth quarter, Baltimore was trailing 14-12. Had Justin Tucker not missed any of his attempts, Philadelphia would have been trailing 19-14 instead.
Fans took to X/Twitter to say that the Ravens should be ruthless and cut Tucker after his performance against the Eagles. Here are some reactions, with one tweeting:
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"How much further can the Ravens go with Justin Tucker this season? It's like you can't imagine him being cut, but this is getting ridiculous."
Most people seemed to concur that the Ravens kicker was done and it was time to, sadly, move on. Here are some more comments:
"RIP Justin Tuckers leg 2012-2024" - said one.
"JUSTIN TUCKER. I AM SORRY. I WILL DO IT MYSELF. IT IS TIME TO GO" - lamented another.
"it’s time to put Justin Tucker down like a 16 year old yellow lab" - concurred a third.
Ravens' Justin Tucker finds support from rival player amid nightmare against Eagles
The Ravens' kicker's three misses against the Eagles were not just crucial in the context of the game but what it means for the rest of the season. This is not something Baltimore can ignore anymore, as it might cost them in the playoffs, if and when they get there. He has only converted 19-of-27 field goal attempts, which is nowhere near the elite production one expects from him.
However, he found support from Micah Parsons. The Dallas defender wrote on X:
"Justin Tucker has been Superman his whole career!! A reminder he’s still human!!! This don’t define him! He still will be great and bounce back!"
The Ravens will hope that their kicker does so soon before it ends up costing them more crunch games.
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