The disappointment seized Baltimore Ravens kicker Tyler Loop as soon as the ball left his foot. The team’s fate in the season hung by a thread, and Loop’s look said it all. The failed 44-yard field goal attempt, which veered right, sealed the Ravens’ 26-24 defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers. This result not only snatched the AFC North title from them, but also marked the abrupt end of Baltimore’s season. The loss left the Ravens with an 8-9 record, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2021. In addition, this was only the third losing season in John Harbaugh’s 18 years as a coach.
“It sucks that it ends like this, and I want to do better,” Loop stated. “Unfortunately, the job has good moments, and those are incredible, and it also has failures, and that it happens tonight sucks.”
Tyler LoopThis was the first field goal attempt to win the Loop game, a sixth-round rookie who replaced Justin Tucker. During the season, Loop had shown exceptional performance, with a 90% success rate on his field goal attempts (30 of 33) before this crucial moment. According to Next Gen Stats, Loop had a 79% chance of scoring the 44-yard field goal. The kicker assured that there were no problems with the snap or the hold, he simply missed the kick.In a final quarter full of leadership changes, it seemed the Ravens were on their way to securing their third consecutive divisional title. On fourth down and 7 yards, quarterback Lamar Jackson connected with tight end Isaiah Likely for a 26-yard gain, leaving Baltimore on Pittsburgh’s 24-yard line with 14 seconds remaining. Jackson then knelt on the next play to move the ball from the left side to the center of the field. Harbaugh was asked if the Ravens should have tried to get the ball closer for Loop.“The moment it made contact with my foot, I felt it go further down,” Loop explained. “We’re talking about hitting the fourth lace of the shoe. It felt a little further down the foot and I hit it wrong.”
Tyler LoopWhile the Ravens were leaving the field, Harbaugh approached Loop, putting his left arm around him. Loop revealed that Harbaugh’s message was: “Get back on the horse. ‘Hey, you’re going to have more kicks. You have to be ready. It sucks, and we have your back, but we have to move on'”. The Ravens became the first preseason Super Bowl favorite to miss the playoffs since the New England Patriots in 2008, when Tom Brady was injured in the first game of the season. Jackson did everything he could to keep Baltimore’s playoff hopes alive, throwing touchdown passes of 50 and 64 yards to wide receiver Zay Flowers in the final quarter.“It was a close shot. You want to center the ball,” Harbaugh replied. “We wanted to make sure we got the goal. We didn’t want something bad to happen in the race. I don’t think it was a bad decision.”
John Harbaugh“We did all that to come up short,” Jackson said. “It’s devastating. I’m furious. I feel all kinds of emotions. I don’t know, I’m all over the place with this right now.”
Lamar JacksonLoop’s miss recalled Billy Cundiff’s error on the 32-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds of the 2011 AFC Championship against the Patriots. The Ravens have also had their share of suffering in recent games, from Flowers’ fumble near the end zone against Kansas City in the 2023 AFC Championship to Mark Andrews’ missed 2-point conversion attempt against Buffalo in last year’s AFC divisional round.“I think it just gets harder,” Ravens offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley commented. “Coming up short with the kind of team we have, it doesn’t feel good.”
Ronnie Stanley
