If you look around at the four major professional sports in the United States — baseball, basketball, football and hockey — there isn’t a position unit more unappreciated than football’s special teams.
Most notably, the core three positions: kicker, long snapper and punter.
Think about it.
When someone doesn’t have the build or skillset of your typical football player, most people’s first thought is, “Uh, maybe he could be a kicker.”
For many people, kickers only matter when they’re hitting a clutch, game-winning field goal — when the fans love them — or when they’re missing chip shots — when fans hate them.
For punters, their names are almost never mentioned, since it’s typically a negative thing if they’re on the field in the first place as it signifies your offense’s inability to move the ball.
And for long snappers, their names just ... aren’t really known at all.
If you’re able to tell me your favorite college or NFL team’s starting long snapper without Google’s help, then you’re likely a superfan or a former long snapper yourself. There’s no in-between.
But for this column, I’d like to focus on kickers — or, really, one specific kicker. (I’ll demand respect for punters and long snappers another day.)
Over the weekend, we witnessed history.
With time expiring in Detroit as the Lions led, 17-16, over the visiting Baltimore Ravens, Justin Tucker — the Ravens’ six-time All-Pro kicker for the last decade — took the field to attempt the game-winner.
It was a 66-yard try.
Nobody in the recorded history of the NFL had made a field goal of that distance.
Ravens long snapper Nick Moore fed the ball to punter (and holder) Sam Koch on the snap, who placed the ball in position as Tucker whacked away at it, trying for not only the game-sealing field goal, but a field goal that, if good, would set an NFL record for the longest make ever.
The ball sailed through the air, dead center between the uprights, but it just didn’t have enough oomph on it and fell short.
At least that’s what I — and so many others watching the game — thought at first.
The ball doinked off of the crossbar and popped into the air … and then took a lucky bounce forward and fell into the net.
It was good.
The Ravens won, 19-17, on the longest field goal in league history.
Tucker’s legacy had been cemented.
Lions fans, many of whom stood up to cheer Tucker’s miss, were in disbelief after realizing it had gone through the uprights.
Not only was this yet another heart-wrenching loss to add to the pile of historic, consistent heartbreak endured by Lions fans since the team moved to Detroit in 1934, 87 years ago, but it was the second time in his career that Tucker left Ford Field stunned.
In 2013, the last time Tucker and the Ravens made the journey to the Motor City, Tucker nailed a 61-yard field goal — the longest of his career until this past Sunday — to beat the Lions at the buzzer, 18-16, on Monday Night Football.
Sunday’s game made one thing certain: Justin Tucker is the greatest kicker to ever do it.
Tucker isn’t just the most accurate field goal kicker of all time (90.578 FG %), he also has a current active streak of 50 made field goals in the fourth quarter or overtime and he’s never missed a kick in the final minute of regulation (16-for-16).
He’s hit 71% of his field goals from 50 yards and beyond (44-for-62) and has knocked down 97% of his extra points, along with being a six-time All-Pro, a four-time Pro Bowler and a Super Bowl champion.
And now, he holds the record for the longest field goal ever made.
There are only two “pure” field goal kickers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame — Jan Stenerud (Class of 1991) and Morten Anderson (Class of 2017) — with 24-year NFL veteran Adam Vinatieri sure to be the third.
But with the resume he’s amassed for himself in just 10 seasons, Tucker will certainly be joining them with a gold jacket. And he’ll possibly make it as a first-ballot selection.
As a Ravens fan, I can admit that I’ve taken Tucker for granted over the years.
He’s been so automatic since coming into the league in 2012 that I rarely bat an eye when the Ravens are tasked with a 50-plus-yard field goal.
I just expect Tucker to make it, the Ravens to get three more points and everybody move on to the next possession.
But Tucker is an outlier. He’s a player to be celebrated, cherished and recognized for his accomplishments.
Not all kickers are created equal, as seen again on Sunday when Cardinals kicker Matt Prater — who, interestingly enough, had his 64-yard FG record, set in 2013, broken by Tucker’s 66-yarder — attempted a 68-yard field goal just before the half, which came up short and allowed Jaguars receiver/defensive back Jamal Agnew to return it 109 yards for a touchdown.
Or as seen by Chargers kicker Tristan Vizcaino, who muffed two extra points in his team’s narrow win over the Chiefs in Week 3.
Throughout history, there have been kickers who have missed easy ones, doinked it off the crossbar on potential game-winners and lost regular season games, playoff games and even Super Bowls with mistakes in big moments.
So when a kicker like Tucker or Vinatieri or Chiefs’ Harrison Butker comes around, it’s best you be thankful for them every time they step on the field.
Because somewhere else in the world, someone’s wishing they had that same luxury.
Reporter Victor Hensley can be reached at vhensley@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @Frezeal33.