There was a time when talking about Ravens kicker Justin Tucker potentially missing a field goal was a fairy tale. Similarly, hearing about that happening would cause you to laugh, at the very least.
Well, turns out that's now happening and getting into concerning territory for the Baltimore Ravens as they need their kicker to return to his best level of play as soon as possible.
Michael David Smith of NBC's Pro Football Talk ran a little research last week following the Ravens win against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 12 and he found out that Tucker's field goal percentage "fell to 80.8% in 2023, the worst mark of his career."
In fact, as MDS points out in his article, Tucker missed a 44-yard field goal against the Chargers bringing his accuracy down to barely above 80% for the first time ever.
Tucker, who is now playing football for the 12th season since he entered the league at the start of last decade, has never before finished a season below a field goal percentage of at least 82.5 percent. If the season ended today, he'd set a career-low on that front.
The kicker, considered the best to ever do it at the position, has attempted 26 FGA this season but he's only made 21 of them. Considering Tucker has yet to miss a game in his career, he's on pace to attempt 37 FGA and make 30 of them for an FG% of 81% in the best-case scenario, which would set a career-low for JT.
Tucker led the NFL with 37 FGM last season, but he would fall short of that figure if he keeps his current pace this year, most probably not winning the race for the most field goals made in 2023. Tucker is currently tied for the 14th-most (ugh) field goals made this year.
Dustin Hopkins, the kicker of the Cincinnati Bengals, has already scored 30 field goals this season with only one more kicker past the 25-field-goal barrier. In terms of accuracy, Hopkins has scored 90.9% of his 33 FGA while the only perfect kicker through Week 13 is Kansas City's Brandon Aubrey, who is 26-for-26 to date.