One crazy stat about Justin Tucker’s game-winning FG in Week 5
By Justin Fried
The Baltimore Ravens were led to victory on Sunday night by the most reliable individual in professional sports: Justin Tucker.
The ever-incredible Tucker not only kicked a 58-yarder through the uprights during Sunday night’s game, but he also managed to connect on a game-winning 43-yard field goal as time expired.
With a normal kicker (or really any other kicker), there would be a sense of doubt in the back of your mind. But with Tucker, there was never a question. He was always going to make the kick.
And not only did Tucker make the kick, he did so by sending it almost perfectly through the center of the uprights. In fact, additional research indicates that Tucker’s kick would still have been good if the goalposts were a half-yard wide.
NFL data analyst Michael Lopez used NextGenStats to determine that Tucker’s kick crossed the upright with a y-coordinate of 26.52. The exact middle of the field has a y-coordinate of 26.67. That’s where that half-yard stat comes from.
Mind you, standard NFL uprights are over six yards apart. Tucker’s kick would have been good if the uprights were over 12 times narrower. That’s why he’s the greatest of all time.
Ravens kicker Justin Tucker is the undisputed kicking GOAT
Tucker may never be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Tom Brady or Lawrence Taylor. No one will confuse him with Deion Sanders or Jerry Rice. But that’s not the point here.
No NFL player has ever been as good at their job as Tucker has been throughout his career. The level of consistency he’s managed at a position with as much volatility as kicker is downright unbelievable and pretty much unprecedented.
Tucker is the most accurate kicker in NFL history and, as of last season, holds the record for the longest kick in league history after his stunning 66-yard game-winner against the Detroit Lions a little over a year ago.
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There has never been another Justin Tucker and there likely never will be again. He’s the undisputed kicking GOAT and Sunday’s game-winner simply furthered that notion.