From G.O.A.T. to scapegoat, literally.
Baltimore Ravens placekicker Justin Tucker went into this season with the highest career field goal percentage in NFL history, but today, he missed more than one kick in a single game for the first time ever.
He missed three (two field goal attempts and one extra point), and if you’re scoring at home (I hope, for your sake that you have better things to do at home than score the text of Ravens Wire articles), that’s a total of seven points he single-handedly left out on the field.
The margin of defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles today was just five (24-19), prompting Tucker to say this to the reporters afterward:
“I just left the points out there, I feel like I cost us this one. But it doesn’t really do anybody any good to dwell on it, the only thing that we can I do, that I can do is continue to work, move forward, take one kick at a time.”
“I hate to say that I have I had to have this same conversation, over the course of the season, but that comes with the job description, the kicks are either good or they’re not and today I did not do enough of a good job to help our team win the football game.”
Taking stock of oneself and thus taking full accountability is a lost art these days. You may be highly frustrated and perhaps even angry by how Tucker performed on Sunday, but you must give him credit for stepping up and accepting the blame.
Many people who have spent most of their careers being branded the best at what they do would not take the road that Tucker did here.
