Can Ravens Tyler Loop handle missed kick better

Those who snub Father Time like to say that 50 is the new 30. A different Father — Benedictine priest Maximilian Maxwell— sprinkled holy water in the end zone before his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers took on the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday with the AFC North title on the road.

Fifty is the new 30 also applies to area targets. More than 70% of kicks over 50 yards are profitable these days, a dramatic increase in accuracy from only 5 years in the past. Excuse Maxwell for pondering divine intervention may be essential ought to a last-second missed kick decide the result.

A 44-yarder is a chip shot for most NFL kickers, including Ravens rookie Tyler Loop, who had made 90% of his makes an attempt — including eight of eight from 40-49 yards — when the ball was snapped with three seconds to play and Baltimore trailing 26-24.

Two phrases coined when Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard attempt that value the Buffalo Bills Super Bowl XXV in 1991 once again had been screamed on a tv broadcast: “Wide right!”

Another memorable miss got here from a kicker regarded as the best in the NFL 20-some years in the past. Brash, outspoken Mike Vanderjagt of the Indianapolis Colts led the league in scoring in 1999 and 4 years later grew to become the first kicker in historical past to make every kick in a full season: 83 of 83 on area targets and further factors.

Yet he botched a boot with 21 seconds to play during a playoff sport in 2006, enabling the Steelers to upset the Colts. Pittsburgh went on to win the Super Bowl and Vanderjagt was changed by Adam Vinatieri. He never regained his kind.

Here’s hoping Loop rebounds better than Vanderjagt or Norwood, who was launched a 12 months after the historic miss and never performed again. Loop was All Pac-12 in 2023 at Arizona, where he holds data for longest area aim (62 yards) and success fee (83.75%). He was the Wildcats’ G.O.A.T. before changing into the Ravens’ goat.

Loop, 24, didn’t duck the media, leaving the impression that he received’t let this failure outline him.

“Just want to say I’m super grateful to Baltimore, the organization and the city, just how they embraced me this year has been incredible,” he said. “Just for it to end like that, sucks, and I want to do better.

“Unfortunately, the nature of the job is you have makes, and those are awesome, and unfortunately, you have misses, and for that to happen tonight sucks.”

The specialised nature of kickers can place them on the periphery of staff bonding, but Loop’s teammates and coaches had been supportive in the aftermath of the season-ending loss.

Coach John Harbaugh walked alongside Loop from the sphere to the locker room, with his arm around his back comforting him. Quarterback Lamar Jackson downplayed the affect, telling reporters, “He’s a rookie, you know. It’s all good. Just leave it in the past.”

Only time will inform whether or not Loop can do just that.