When Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker hit the ball, he veered left hoping he would not miss the mark as he did on two or three 65-yarders in pregame warm-ups.
In any case, after the ball bounced high off the crossbar and through the uprights, Tucker ran down the field, where he was amassed by teammates and lifted up in celebration.
Tucker’s 66-yard field goal – the longest in NFL history – lifted the drained Ravens to an dramatic 19-17 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
“Thankfully, we found an extra yard-and-a-half that I didn’t have three hours before,” said Tucker, who grasped the ball from the winning kick in his hand. “I’m grateful for that.”
Tucker’s 66-yarder eclipsed Matt Prater’s 64-yard field goal in 2013 as the longest in NFL history.
Tucker is more than the record holder for the longest kick and the most dependable kicker in NFL history. He’s additionally the most grasp. Exhaust improved to 16-for-16 in his NFL profession on field objectives in the last moment of regulation.
“He’s the best kicker in history,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “When you have a kicker like that, you want to give him an opportunity like that. For him to come through like that is just historic.”
It was a sensation that this has happened before for Tucker, whose 61-yard field objective won the Ravens’ last game at Ford Field eight years prior. That had been his past vocation long.
There have been just seven go on field objectives of 60 or more yards in the last moment in NFL history, and Tucker is the main kicker with different ones, as indicated by the Elias Sports Bureau. Both have come at Ford Field for Tucker.
“I love Detroit,” Tucker said. “I think I’m going to buy a place here.”
Tucker left a mark on the world in light of a change he made inside the previous year. On the more drawn out kicks, Tucker makes a couple of more strides back than expected and moves toward the endeavor like an opening shot. It’s less with regards to strategy and more with regards to control.
Asked how far back he situated himself comparative with his typical kick, Tucker said, “I honestly have to look at it. I was kind of having a little bit of like an out-of-body experience for a minute.”
Exhaust’s triumphant kick was set up by Lamar Jackson converting over a fourth-and-19 with a 36-yard pass to Sammy Watkins, which wasn’t the first arrangement. Baltimore had another play called, yet hostile organizer Greg Roman changed it after the Lions called break with 26 seconds remaining.
Jackson actually didn’t know it would have been sufficient for his four-time Pro Bowl kicker who had made 48 straight fourth-quarter kicks, the longest active streak in the league.
“I’m looking and see how many yards it is. I’m like, ‘Dang, this is different right here. I’ve never seen him in this predicament,'” Jackson said. “I was hoping to get him closer. It was like, ‘If we get enough air, he’s going to make it.’ He came through.”
After Tucker’s kick, fans left Ford Field gradually in disappointment once more as this most recent misfortune adds to the clothing rundown of other sensational endings in Lions franchise history. Lions quarterback Jared Goff said the group will “remain true” and strong going ahead since the story could’ve changed totally had the ball bounced on the opposite side of the crossbar.
“About as big of a gut punch as I’ve ever been a part of,” Goff said. “And, I guess I’ll start this off by saying this team and this city has been through a lot obviously in recent years and has had these gut punches.”
For the Ravens, they got away with a victory subsequent to losing four guarded players to COVID-19 convention only two days before this game. Altogether, Baltimore was without 13 players who counted essentially $1 million against the cap due to injury or COVID-related issues.
After the game, Harbaugh found Tucker on the field and told him, “We’re going to remember this for the rest of our lives.”