Justin Tucker is, statistically, the greatest kicker in NFL history.
The Baltimore Raven mainstay has made 91.3 percent of his field goal attempts in his 10-plus years in the league. That makes him the most accurate kicker the game has ever seen. It puts him more than a full percentage point above second-place Harrison Butker.
On Sunday night he added to his resume by draining all five of his kicks (four field goals, one extra point), including a 58-yarder that broke a 10-10 tie to open the second half. None was more important than the 43-yard boot that dissected the uprights at nearly their geometric center as time expired, lifting Baltimore to a 19-17 win over AFC North rival Cincinnati.
This isn’t new or especially exciting for the seven-time All-Pro. So when he got to his postgame interview, he had a little fun with it.
Dying at Justin Tucker's interview describing the process of a field goal including the terms "game winning hold" and "system kicker" pic.twitter.com/lvgHmrX7dp
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) October 10, 2022
“”My feelings don’t matter. What matters is seeing the ball snapped with 12 o’clock laces from Nick Moore. Seeing the ball spotted cleanly from Jordan Stout — his first career game-winning hold. From there I’m just a system kicker. The ball kicks itself at that point.
“All the feelings and stuff? We can enjoy that after the fact.”
And he did. Here’s how Tucker reacted after drilling a 25-yard kick to extend the Ravens’ led to 16-10 in the fourth quarter.