Ravens thought they tied the Saints, then Justin Tucker missed first extra point of career

Of all the times for Justin Tucker to not be automatic.

The Baltimore Ravens kicker is the best in the game. He had made 221 straight extra points to start his career. When the Ravens scored with 24 seconds left against the Saints, all Tucker needed to do was make the extra point and the game would go to overtime. He hadn’t missed an extra point in his seven NFL seasons to that point, so it seemed like a foregone conclusion, even on a very windy day.

Then it wasn’t. Tucker missed. His kick seemed to be going right through the middle of the uprights, then it took a sharp right turn and missed.

The Ravens seemed to be in utter shock. Nobody was more shocked than Tucker, whose eyes were wide as he looked up toward the uprights. According to ESPN Stats and Info, he had connected on all 78 of his field-goal attempts from 33 yards or less in his career, so as he lined up for that extra point he had made 300 straight kicks from 33 yards and in. Wow.

The Saints recovered the onside kick after Tucker’s miss and that was that. Saints 24, Ravens 23 in about the craziest scenario imaginable. It was a brutal loss for the Ravens, who led 17-7 only to let that lead slip away. But Joe Flacco led a great drive in the final minutes and he hit John Brown for what looked like the game-tying score. Presumably the Ravens coaches had already started talking about overtime plans, because it didn’t seem possible Tucker would miss.

Tucker is one of the rare kickers who is on the type of path that would put him in Hall of Fame consideration someday. He makes 50-yard field goals look easy. Of all the weird things that happen on any NFL week, Tucker missing in that situation was one of the weirdest. Nobody could have predicted that.

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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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