The Kick Was Incredible, So Are His Lifetime Stats

Justin Tucker nails a record 66-yarder for the Ravens win
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 27, 2021 7:47 AM CDT
'Greatest Kicker in NFL History' Outdoes Himself
Baltimore Ravens players celebrate Justin Tucker's epic kick.   (AP Photo/Tony Ding)

You know it was a good kick when coverage makes references to the "best kicker the NFL has ever seen," as at the Spun, or uses phrases such as "one of the greatest plays in NFL history," per Stefan Fatsis at Slate. Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens kicked a 66-yard field goal as time expired Sunday—it doinked in off the crossbar—to lift his team to a 19-17 win over the Detroit Lions. It's the longest field goal in NFL history by 2 yards. The league isn't allowing the video to be embedded, but you can watch via YouTube here or via Twitter here.

"As soon as it left my foot, I knew it was going to have a chance but I was short from 65 in pregame both ways," Tucker said after the game. "For whatever reason, I just couldn't get the ball to just go and, thankfully, we found an extra yard-and-a-half that I didn't have three hours before and I'm grateful for that." Coach John Harbaugh said the kick "got a little push, a supernatural push," adding his voice to the sentiment that Tucker is "the greatest kicker in NFL history." And that may be not be mere hype.

Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal puts it succinctly: Tucker "defies the basic notions of how reliably and how far away a team can expect to score off a human’s foot." The stats for the 31-year-old Tucker back up the assertion: He is the most accurate kicker in NFL history (90.6%), longer kicks don't phase him (his 91% accuracy from the range of 40 to 49 yards beats everyone else by more than 2 percentage points) and he's incredibly clutch—he is 16 for 16 in the final minute of regulation over his career, and he has now made 50 in a row in fourth quarters. (More NFL stories.)

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