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DETROIT -- During pregame warm-ups, Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker couldn't get enough power on a couple of 65-yard attempts that fell short.
Then, with the game on the line, Tucker hit a 66-yard field goal -- the longest in NFL history -- to lift the Ravens to a last-second 19-17 victory over the Detroit Lions.
Tucker's kick landed on the middle crossbar as time expired, bounced high in the air and ricocheted through. Swarmed by teammates on the field, he was lifted up in celebration.
"Thankfully, we found an extra yard-and-a-half that I didn't have three hours before," said Tucker as Quoted on espn.com, who held the ball from the winning kick in his hand. "I'm grateful for that."
Tucker's 66-yarder eclipsed Matt Prater's 64-yard field goal in 2013 as the longest in NFL history.
Tucker is more than the record holder for the longest kick and the most accurate kicker in NFL history. He's also the most clutch. Tucker improved to 16-for-16 in his NFL career on field goals in the final minute of regulation.
"He's the best kicker in history," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "When you have a kicker like that, you want to give him an opportunity like that. For him to come through like that is just historic."
It was déjà vu for Tucker, whose 61-yard field goal won the Ravens' last game at Ford Field eight years ago. That had been his previous career long.
There have been only seven go-ahead field goals of 60-plus yards in the final minute in NFL history, and Tucker is the only kicker with multiple ones, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Both have come at Ford Field for Tucker.
"I love Detroit," Tucker said. "I think I'm going to buy a place here."
Tucker's winning kick was set up by Lamar Jackson converting a fourth-and-19 with a 36-yard pass to Sammy Watkins.
"I'm looking and see how many yards it is. I'm like, 'Dang, this is different right here. I've never seen him in this predicament,'" Jackson said. "I was hoping to get him closer. It was like, 'If we get enough air, he's going to make it.' He came through."
After Tucker's kick, fans exited Ford Field slowly in disappointment yet again as this latest loss adds to the laundry list of other dramatic endings in Lions franchise history. First-year Lions coach Dan Campbell didn't know how to initially describe his emotions other than, "I didn't think he would make it."
"I love the grit of this freakin' team, I do," Campbell said of his team. "If you're not a gritty team, you won't hold up to this team, so small victories and we've got to move forward and find a way to beat Chicago." Detroit is off to an 0-3 start for the first time since 2015, but players are aware of the silver lining in defeat.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff said the team will "remain true" and resilient going forward since the narrative could've changed completely had the ball bounced on the other side of the crossbar.
"About as big of a gut punch as I've ever been a part of. And, I guess I'll start this off by saying this team and this city has been through a lot obviously in recent years and has had these gut punches," Goff said.
"For me, personally, it's the hardest one I've been a part of, but I think the resiliency that we've shown in the past amongst this group and hopefully the new guys as well, the resiliency to push through something like this will remain. That optimism, that hope, that belief in each other, because it was there."
Source : https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32286586/baltimore-ravens-tucker-wins-game-detroit-lions-record-66-yard-fg
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