ravenslord
Ravens Ring of Honor
Yeah he should. He will likely cost us any chance to progress in the playoffs.Yeah, whatta slouch. You would think he would try harder to make his kicks.
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- Thread starter rossihunter2
- Start date
Should the Chiefs give up on Mahomes? His numbers are clearly in decline. Is something off with Tucker? Yes , but when every kick is being missed the exact same way that clearly implies a form or technique problem from somewhere snd those can be fixed.
When there is a clearly fixable problem it seems weird to just throw out the greatest kicker ever rather than solve the greatest problem.
Sooky
MVP
It's different when the player has played 12 seasons and that's about the time you can see a kicker dropping off. Tucker has quite a bit of wear and that's been a huge talking point the past couple of years with him and having to take more and more time off. It's just as easy to throw out Aaron Rodgers instead of Patrick Mahomes to change the conversation. Every situation is different, but you can't have a kicker, doesn't matter the name, ruining a historic offensive season.
Edit: I wouldn't say it's clearly fixable either. This has been said by the team/Tucker since what? Week 2? Nothing has shown that it can be fixed.
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drjohnnyfever
Pro Bowler
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/n...ens-star-Justin-Tuckers-health-interview.html
Uh oh, he made the DailyMail. lol
Uh oh, he made the DailyMail. lol
BoredMarine13
Ravens Ring of Honor
Also to note this comparison doesn’t make any sense. Mahomes may not be having his best year but he still ranks in the top 10 or better for most categories. Tuck is literally one of the worst in the league when it comes to field goals made
drjohnnyfever
Pro Bowler
Well, despite our worries, it looks like we're going to find out the hard way here whether Tuck's fixed whatever his problems are. For his sake, I hope he has, but I'm going to have butterflies in my gut every time he in a point scoring situation. And if know-nothing-arm-chair-HOFer me has butterflies my gut, I can only imagine the pterodactyls he has fluttering around in his. Out Playoff hopes might literally be on his head and whether he's gotten it squared.
airconteka
MVP
Hear me out. If Lamar is the holder I reckon the Tucker problem is sorted overnight.
I think butterflies would be in your gut even if the ravens had a new kicker kicking. Not sure how replacing Tucker with a different kicker would have gave fans some sort of comfort or relief instantly. Tucker has helped this team win games for quite some time and I respect their loyalty to him but at the same time maybe the coaching staff knows more than us.
Florida Raven Fan
Ravens Ring of Honor
I personally will feel more comfortable if we brought in another kicker. Will their be butterflies in the stomach? Yeah, maybe for the first few kicks. For Tucker is going to be every kick until he has a few games in a row with no miss.
And Just because the coaches "know" more than us doesn't make them immune from making mistakes or error in judgements. We see this all the time. Loyalty can come at the cost of losing games. Be loyal to the team and not just one guy. They obviously didn't bring anyone in so we shall see if that was right move and they still have time to bring someone if he struggles again against the giants.
@Adreme that was a horrible comparison my friend. Mahomes is in his prime and the BEST qb even with his #s being down. Tucker has the worst FG% this season and is at the end of his career. I do hope he fixes/rectify whatever is going on with him and kicks for a few more seasons.
marklar
Pro Bowler
On Tucker, here is my amateur psychology analysis that no one asked for
He hits kicks in practice and warmups, but not in games. "Experts" see no faults in snap & hold. The issue is thus all in Tucker's head.
I hunt birds so I spend a lot of time on the shotgun range honing my craft, and I'd say that is similar to kicking FGs, i.e. something you do on muscle memory. I know that the second I start thinking of how I should focus on some detail before a shot, I am fucked. It only works when my mind is blank.
So get the poor guy a mental coach/sports psychologist and try to purge whayever funk his mind gets him into on game nights. This could be an easy fix or it could be a pit he never gets out of, but I do not think tweaking his technique will help at all.
He hits kicks in practice and warmups, but not in games. "Experts" see no faults in snap & hold. The issue is thus all in Tucker's head.
I hunt birds so I spend a lot of time on the shotgun range honing my craft, and I'd say that is similar to kicking FGs, i.e. something you do on muscle memory. I know that the second I start thinking of how I should focus on some detail before a shot, I am fucked. It only works when my mind is blank.
So get the poor guy a mental coach/sports psychologist and try to purge whayever funk his mind gets him into on game nights. This could be an easy fix or it could be a pit he never gets out of, but I do not think tweaking his technique will help at all.
drjohnnyfever
Pro Bowler
Yeah, I'm not questioning their loyalty at all. They can be loyal and still have a replacement until it really gets sorted. I'm not advocating they just dump a HOFer. But I am shocked by the sort of lack of due diligence by not having someone in the wings if Tuck misses his next two attempts. Who's the second K on the team? Derrick Henry? I have no clue, but whoever it is, likely, has little chance of hitting the 50 yarder we might need to win. Whereas a real alternate kicker might. The fact that there's been nothing is a little concerning.
I'm not even saying a new guy gets the start. But having an actual kicker to back a struggling guy up would be a good idea if we need to give him the hook...
UPennChem
Hall of Famer
Preapology for the harsh sounding response.
Most of that is not true or not contextualized. He's making kicks off of a tee in practice. Highly different than with a holder and the rush coming.
Experts do see issues in his technique. His plant foot in particular has been pretty egregiously off and variable in how it's off. Experts also say that Tucker has stated over the years that he uses this niche technique for generating torque that isn't exactly textbook but it's really worked for him.
It seems like something physically is off (could be the added muscle or differential training he was doing for the new dumbass kick off rule) and its causing issues. Possibly in this torque generating process.
Ultimately, he thinks oh I can't change things radically because that would be crazy. But then people hammer him you're always left. Then he starts breaking cardinal rules about lining up the trajectory point to make kicks. That's causing him do things out of process and he's doing that inconsistently.
Point is, it's not just in his head. His technique is bad it seems like they're scrambling, trying to look at a bunch of different stuff and that's not at all helping the problem.
BoredMarine13
Ravens Ring of Honor
When did back up QBs stop being the defacto holders? Get Josh Johnson’s old ass out there. Might need a hand up though
BoredMarine13
Ravens Ring of Honor
I think your hunting analogy is why he missed his wide right one. Tried a little Kentucky windage and then of course he struck it true and probably would have been good through his normal routine.
I do get your point on muscle memory. I try to clear my mind as best as possible by focusing on front sites and not staring down the target so the trigger pull almost catches me off guard. Just not sure if it applies to Tuck, honestly no idea what his problem is. I’m shocked no one has found mechanics issues at this point
a long time ago. I remember when some starters would hold. Think it comes from a couple things. Practice time with the snap and hold vs hurting the players right hand with a missed kick, although I think it's more the former vs the latter.
Sooky
MVP
I believe another big reason was that specialists could just practice together and it wouldn't take away a backup QB from his offensive duties. It is more efficient, you don't have to carry 3 QBs nearly as often, and you reduce the risk of hurting your backup QB on a special teams play.
BoredMarine13
Ravens Ring of Honor
We need to bring back old school football, thats why tucker sucks now. Back up Qb holds, giant neck roles for LBs, single bar mask for kickers, smoking on the sideline( Zyn is acceptable, Love you Baker), and onside kicks were unannounced.
I understand everyone's stance on both aisles of wanting someone brought in, but I don't get this entire Tucker is at the end of his career thing. Adam v and Stephen g (the two greatest kickers I can think of without spelling there last names proper) both had similar seasons at this point in time and went on to play 10 & 5 (respectively) all pro level seasons. He just turned 35 2 weeks ago, he easily should have AT LEAST 2-3 years left in him. He's a kicker who's never been injured not a RB
That's understandable but me personally I don't understand how a new kicker is going to be instantly a upgrade over Tucker but that's just my point of view of things. A new kicker will still have to prove to fans if he's capable of being reliable. I rather the team ride with Tucker than ride with someone they hope can be better than him doing the stretch of the next 4 games . In all reality Tucker has helped this team win quite a bit of games during his career and this is first slump of his career .
I definitely understand why a classy organization such as the ravens would stand by him. I'm sure you would appreciate it too if you was in Tucker shoes. Loyalty can cause a team to lose games and sometimes it doesn't . Coaches don't always get it right and fans are intelligent when it comes to assessing the team and given their input on things so I never will believe that this coaching staff is perfect but truthfully I think they know how important it is to win games more than us. Honestly they get paid to worry about football 24/7 . This the same team that moved on from Sam Koch and if they really felt like Tucker was done then he would have been gone by now . I don't think this is some sort of blind loyalty on there part and I think they feel like Tucker deserves the right to figure it out.
and that's most likely 3 to 5 years left