The Baltimore Ravens’ preseason opening win had almost everything fans needed to see. Jesse Minter got out to a fast start, his defense was electric, and the offense provided plenty of positives up front and in the receiving game. There was one issue that stuck out like a sore thumb, though.
That issue is kicker Tyler Loop. The second-year pro had an up-and-down rookie campaign, but it ended on the sourest note of all with a missed field goal that would send Baltimore home in Week 18. Against the Philadelphia Eagles, he didn’t do much to help his case.
Loop appeared to fix one big problem, that being his kickoffs. However, the inconsistency on field goals remained. He went 1-for-2 on Saturday night, missing a 49-yarder wide right…how fitting.
That showing wasn’t convincing whatsoever. As a result, the kicking position remains a reasonable question mark.
Baltimore Ravens’ kicking position still has uncertainty after preseason opener
Tyler Loop was on a roll before the preseason opener. He had caught fire in training camp, was nailing every kick from 50-plus, and according to ESPN’s Jamison Hensley, was 33-for-35 in camp leading up to this game. But the question was always if he could handle the game pressure, and evidently, he had trouble taming that beast.
To be fair, Loop did rebound. After missing that 49-yard attempt (which really never had a chance at going in), he got another shot early in the third quarter from 42 yards out and made the most of it, splitting the uprights right down the middle. He was great on kickoffs, too, an area where the Eagles really didn’t do any damage.
Those field goal issues could also simply be a holding issue. Loop has a new holder in rookie punter Ryan Eckley, so there’s a level of chemistry that’ll need to be built there as Eckley makes a huge jump to the NFL level. And it’s certainly possible that Eckley may have missed his spot on the missed field goal—Jesse Minter acknowledged that they’ll have to get into the film room and look at what went wrong in that moment.
In his postgame press conference, Minter also mentioned that there wasn’t really anything from Loop’s performance that’ll change the status at kicker. If anything, he was pretty happy with how the Arizona product bounced back from the early miss.
Still, even with Minter’s optimism, it’s hard to ignore the winds swirling around Loop now. His 2025 season was troubling, especially from distance and when the lights were at their brightest. He must make career-defining strides in the next few weeks to instill more belief from the coaching staff and fanbase ahead of 2026.
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