Special teams coach has bad news for anyone hoping Justin Tucker gets better

While the 2024 season hasn't gone according to plan for the Baltimore Ravens (if you told fans the team would be 8-5 at this point in the season, they'd likely be disappointed), one of the most frustrating parts of the season has been the decline of Justin Tucker. It's been puzzling to see Tucker go from automatic to now wondering if he's going to cost the Baltimore Ravens the game each week.

In this past weekend's loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Tucker missed two field goal attempts and one extra-point attempt, costing the home team Ravens seven points on the day. The Ravens ended up losing the game by five points.

Now, of course, the game could have taken a different path had Tucker made all of those kicks but the fact of the matter is that this isn't the first time the Ravens kicker has had a problematic performance. He missed two field goals and an extra point during the Ravens' eventual loss to the Steelers so that's now two losses that Tucker played a part in.

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Tucker is aware of his struggles, noting in November that he's taken this fall from grace personally. He thought he had figured out the issue but clearly, that hasn't been the case.

Alex Katson of SB Nation recently wrote about Tucker's struggles and reached out to Fresno State special teams coordinator John Baxter, who broke down what's been ailing the long-time Ravens kicker. Baxter said it wasn't a snap or hold issue but rather that Tucker hits the ball hard and that sometimes can send the ball veering to the left.

“Tucker has always been a guy who hits the ball really hard. He does what I call ‘crossing up’. When his right leg hits the ball, his left side crosses over, which tightens your follow through to stay on balance.”

“The harder you swing, the more active your left side has to be. If your left side is late, the ball is going to track left. When you pull it as hard as he pulls it – you can talk to a fade but a hook won’t listen. He swings as hard as any player that’s ever kicked. When you swing that hard, it’s easy to pull one.”

Justin Tucker's struggles broken down by a special teams coach

The article goes into great detail about what Baxter thinks is ultimately wrong with Tucker but those above quotes detail it well. There was also an interesting bit in the article about how former NFL punter Chris Kluwe pointed out on BlueSky how Tucker is older and his body doesn't move the way it used to earlier in his career. Slowing down even just a smidge is enough to impact his kicks that used to be rock solid.

Maybe this is something that Tucker can end up adjusting but from the commentary given by Baxter paired with Kluwe's explanation, this doesn't feel like it's going to be an easy fix for the long-time Ravens kicker. That's tough for fans to think about given how dominant he's been throughout his career.

Ravens fans are hoping that Tucker can get these issues fixed by the end of the season and especially in the playoffs. What fans once hoped for (a Tucker field goal attempt to give the Ravens the game-winner) is now something they're fearing and that is not something any of us had on our Bingo card at the beginning of the year.