The Ravens aren't accustomed to being on the wrong side of a kicker battle, and Justin Tucker certainly isn't used to missing so many kicks.
Tucker's strangely difficult season continued Sunday in Pittsburgh, as he missed a pair of field goals from 47 and 50 yards in the first half of the Ravens' 18-16 loss to the rival Steelers.
What made it even more painful is that Steelers kicker Chris Boswell drilled all six of his attempts for Pittsburgh's only points. Boswell hit from 32, 52, 32, 57, 27, and 50 yards out.
"It's certainly frustrating, especially when we know that these [Ravens-Steelers] games come down to the wire, like this one did today, that I let a couple get away," Tucker said.
Tucker has now missed six field goals and one extra point this season. That's more field goal misses than he had all last season and tied for the second-most misses of his 13-year career.
He did come back with a big-time kick in the second half, drilling a 54-yard kick into the open end of Acrisure Stadium.
That was little consolation after the game, however, as Tucker is having the toughest season of an otherwise sterling career that has made him one of the greatest of all-time.
"'Tuck' needs to make kicks. He knows that; that's important," Head Coach John Harbaugh said. "He makes them in practice, and he made the long one later, which was good to see – which means he's still very capable. Kick them straight, [and] we'll be good."
Tucker's career-high in field goal misses was seven in 2015 – his fourth NFL season – when he went 33 of 40. He missed six field goals in 2022, but that was a Pro Bowl season in which he made a league-high 37.
Tucker is now 16 of 22 on the season for a career-low 71.4 field-goal percentage. All seven of his misses (including the extra point) have been wide left.
Tucker continues to say that each kick stands on its own and there is no overarching reason why he keeps missing left. However, it did make him adjust his aim on his 54-yard make. Tucker said he simply aimed further right.
He said both misses started straight but "took a left." He was asked why they keep going straight but didn't have a clear explanation.
"Even when I pick the ball clean and hit a strong ball, sometimes the ball will stay straight and sometimes it will move a little bit," Tucker said. "The short answer is, not really, no. I'm really making it a priority to go out there and hit each ball strong and each ball straight."
Tucker isn't the only usually reliable kicker struggling this season. The Falcons' Younghoe Koo, a 2020 Pro Bowler, has missed seven. Greg Zuerlein, who made the second-most field goals last season, has shanked six. Again, that's no consolation to Tucker, who has long been on top of the kicking game.
He said he still wakes up at night thinking about misses he had 12 years ago, and he'll probably lose some sleep Sunday night after the Ravens' loss in Pittsburgh but will come back again Monday looking to get right.
"I'm still confident I'm going to go out there and nail every single kick," Tucker said. "Part of the way we stay confident is by continuing to work and trust the process. I might sound like a broken record, but it's a part of what brings us success – is just trusting the process and then taking it one kick at a time."
