The day after Justin Tucker stunned the football world by missing an extra point for the first time in his life, Ravens fans are still trying to figure out what the heck went wrong.
Head Coach John Harbaugh spoke with Tucker and Specialists Coach Randy Brown after Sunday's 24-23 loss to the New Orleans Saints about what happened on the kick.
"There were a lot of technical parts that go into it," Harbaugh told reporters Monday. "The wind was definitely a part of it, but it's a missed kick.
"You can talk to Tucker about it if you want. You're not going to understand what he's talking about anyway. At the end of the day, it's a missed kick."
It seemed to come off Tucker's foot just fine, and he said after the game that it felt good when he first blasted it. But the ball took a sharp right turn in the air.
Did the wind have that much of an effect, or did he just slice it?
The official game book said the winds were at 15 miles per hour during Sunday's game, and gusts were stronger. But the flags at the top of the field goal posts were limp at the time of the kick.
Punter Sam Koch said the new corner video boards installed at M&T Bank Stadium have made winds swirl more, adding to the difficulty.
"Yes, it's different, but nobody knows it better than our guys," Harbaugh said.
Tucker, Koch and long snapper Morgan Cox routinely practice field goals (and extra points) at M&T Bank Stadium leading up to games as they study wind patterns and field conditions. It's hard to replicate 15 mph winds, however.
"I guarantee you nobody works harder at it than those guys work at it," Harbaugh said. "So I think if anybody's concerned about that, they shouldn't be."
It became obvious before the game that kicking in the east direction was the tougher side, Harbaugh said. But still, there was more to the miss than the wind. And whatever the other factors were, Tucker will drill into fixing them this week to make sure it doesn't happen again.
"We have all the confidence in the world in Tuck. We love him," Harbaugh said. "He's going to go to work hard, he's going to come back, his confidence is not going to be shook at all. I don't know anybody that bats 1.000 in their career."
