The Ravens’ kicking situation is already under the microscope, and Saturday night did nothing to quiet it.
Rookie kicker Tyler Loop followed the same troubling script that ended Baltimore’s season in Week 17 at Pittsburgh: a miss from distance that leaves the organization with more questions than answers. This time, it was a 49-yard attempt in the preseason opener against the Eagles, a kick that never looked like it had the line once it left his foot and drifted right the whole way. Loop settled in afterward and handled the rest of his night well enough, but the first impression was impossible to ignore.
Rookie head coach Jesse Minter wasn’t eager to dive into a veteran-kicker debate after the Ravens’ 24-7 win. When asked whether the miss had him thinking about adding another leg, he kept it brief.
“Not really,” Minter said after the game if the miss made him thinking about adding another kicker. “Again, he bounced back well.”
That’s been the organization’s general posture all summer: belief in the draft pick, patience with the process, confidence that Loop will pay off. But there’s also a practical side to this. Veteran kickers are available, they wouldn’t cost much, and if bringing one in rattles Loop, that probably answers a bigger question about his long-term ceiling anyway.
Loop, for his part, didn’t sound shaken. He said he felt good about the operation and credited his response after the miss.
He also pointed out that the setup is different now, with rookie punter Ryan Eckley handling the holding duties. Minter said the staff will study the play on film and noted that the operation itself matters in the evaluation.
“We’ll see how the operation was,” Minter said, “but very happy how he was able to bounce back from that.”
Loop struck a calmer note when he spoke to reporters. He said the miss wasn’t hanging over him, that he liked getting a real game atmosphere, and that the night felt like getting back into a rhythm.
“It’s all about how you respond,” Loop said. “I didn’t make my first kick, but who cares.
I got to go out and make the next one. Felt good about the rest of the hits … Felt good about the kickoffs.”
He added that he felt good through the strike and believed he had aimed properly before the ball “started bleeding right, that’s all there was to it.”
Loop did connect on his other field goal and his extra points, but the 50-yard range is where the conversation lives now. He didn’t get many chances from that distance last season, and the Ravens clearly wanted to test him in a game setting. Even with a solid rookie year by league standards, the latest miss reopened the debate, especially with other young kickers around the league drilling long attempts this weekend.
The sideline reaction suggested the same concern. Kicking coach Randy Brown didn’t appear thrilled, and the notion of carrying a veteran alongside Loop no longer feels like a wild idea. It feels like the kind of move that would at least create real competition.
That conversation could sharpen again next weekend in Minnesota. If it does, the Ravens may have to decide whether patience is enough at a position where one miss can change everything.
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