BALTIMORE – Justin Tucker would not hide after the first missed extra point kick of his career in the final seconds on Sunday allowed the Saints to escape M&T Bank Stadium with a 24-23 victory. He wanted to step to the podium and face the music.
Class act.
“If I was going to ever teach my son or any young person about accountability, I felt like it was really important that I stand up here and answer whatever questions you may have,” Tucker said.
The missed kick snapped Tucker’s streak of 222 consecutive PATs and provided the most improbable ending to a thrilling game. New Orleans rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half, only to have Baltimore march down the field in the final two minutes to seemingly tie the game.
“You play long enough, you’re going to have a kick that you want back, and tonight was that night for me,” Tucker said. “Like Joe (Flacco) said, the only thing you can do is just go to work and try to make the best of a bad situation.”
It was telling that the seventh-year pro was accompanied to the interview room by several teammates, including long snapper Morgan Cox and Sam Koch, the punter who also holds for kicks.
“The guys in that locker room that have my back, that means the world to me,” Tucker said.
Tucker insisted that he will not go into a mental funk reflecting on the miss.
“I’ll let this hurt for another couple of hours," Tucker said, "and then I’ll do everything I can to move on.”
Follow Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.
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