Tyler Loop Projects Confidence In Detailing Aftermath Of Season-Ending Missed FG

As Tyler Loop aligned to take the biggest kick of his life – one that would either clinch the AFC North for the Ravens at Pittsburgh from 44 yards out, or end their season – he says there was but one prevailing thought on his mind.

“This is going in,” as Loop described it at the conclusion of mini camp Wednesday, the first time he’s spoken publicly about it this offseason.

In the aftermath of that kick, wide right in Week 17, head coach John Harbaugh, going on 20 years at the helm, was pushed out as the Ravens fell well short of expectations yet again. Loop played a very small role in that macro-level outcome, of course, putting together a strong rookie season but one that lacked much drama until it mattered most. Still, it was a lot for any young player to shoulder, let alone a rookie kicker, whose every move in captured on camera in the ultimate results-oriented position in football.

Loop gave every impression Wednesday – including making a 40-yard that allowed the players to get off the practice field early – that the moment is behind him. It was hard not to watch and listen to him embrace everything about the mistake – mentally and physically and his process moving forward – and not feel good about him having a stellar second season in the NFL. You got the sense he’s look forward, very much, to the next chance he gets to win or lose a game for this franchise, and in no way fearing it.

“I would say the biggest thing that I did was just acknowledge and accept it, and took a day or two,” Loop said. “And I would say moving on from the kick itself was pretty easy, just because I know you’ve got to be ready for that next kick, and you’ve got to be able to put it behind you.

“And I’m confident in the process that I’ve developed. I’d say the biggest part of moving on was letting the people I care about, and the people who care about me, know, ‘Hey I’m good. Nothing changed for me. I still feel confident in my abilities.’”

Loop seemed nonplussed – in the best way possible - in recanting his emotions. This didn’t feel like someone selling you something, but rather explaining and telling you how they moved on. After taking the day or two, Loop says he reset and relaunched himself into the offseason.

The youngster, 24, seemed to inherently understand that Harbaugh isn’t gone because he had a “late lockout” in his nuanced terms for why he sent the ball wide of the intended mark, and that any decision a billionaire owner made about his highest-paid employee who proceeded Loop in Baltimore by 15 years, was far beyond him.

“You focus on what you can control, and all I can control for myself is my process,” Loop said when asked about the fallout.

Sticking With The Process

Loop said he watched the kick in the immediate aftermath back in Baltimore to confirm what he’d already suspected in terms of the technical part of his delivery that resulted in the inaccuracy, but not since. The outpouring of support within the kicking community – other kickers and their spouses reaching out to Loop and his now wife – touched him

In some ways the miss, and understandingly immediately why it happened, reinforced the process Loop is honing with kicking guru Randy Brown – perhaps the best kicking coach in the world and a holdover on rookie head coach Jesse Minter’s staff. That also helped him put the event behind him and not cling to reliving the kick in his head.

“It has to be completely flushed away - next kick - on the emotional side of it,” Loop said. “I play a very factual position - you either made the kick, fact, or missed the kick, fact. You have to be able to look at it objectively – this is why I missed the kick. And you learn from it and move on. You to gotta say, ‘I’m still capable of doing this, and my process isn’t broken.”

The Ravens have shown no indication to this point to bring in a veteran to push Loop – one could argue more competition probably couldn’t do any harm – though Minter didn’t slam the door on that idea Wednesday.

“You play in September,” Minter said, crediting Loop for “owning” his miscue. “I think there are ongoing talks and conversations about every position, about whether you think you have what you need to be successful …We feel very good about where he’s at.”

Loop’s teammates certainly aren’t dwelling on it, and they trust him to compartmentalize the miss and grow from it. It’s hardly a topic of conversation for them and something, as professionals, the individual must master

“You shouldn’t need attaboys to get yourself right,” as Pro Bowl safety Kyle Hamilton put it, noting every player has made critical mistakes at some point.

Solid Rookie Season

The Ravens rarely tested Loop’s leg, which evaluators believe is plenty strong enough, with him attempting just four kicks over 50 yards and almost none down the stretch. Minter aims to keep simulating pressure in practices, like Wednesday, in so much as that can replicate when there are “stakes on the line,” as Loop put it.

Former NFL kicker and premier kicking coach Nick Novak, who has never worked with Loop but studied him going back to the NFL combine (where Novak attended), believe Loop will be “an All Pro” sooner rather than later and doesn’t see many flaws in his game. And he noted how well Loop’s rookie season holds up to others (full episode of Noak on "The Daily Flock Show"' is linked below).

When compared with every rookie kicker to kick in at least 10 games, since 2015 (a wide swath), only three made more field goals than the 30 Loop converted – Rodrigo Blankenship (Colts, 32), Brandon Aubrey (36, Cowboys), Harrison Butker (38, Chiefs). Elite company.

Loop was seventh among 33 rookie kickers (10 or more games) since 2015 at 88.2% overall (the six ahead of him all have had legit NFL careers). Loop made 89% of his kicks between 40-49 yards, sixth among this group, and he excelled on extra points, making 44 of 46. Ahe must work on his placement of balls on kickoffs with the new rules in place, but his body of work, aside from missing the biggest kick of his career, of course, gets strong marks.

And while it’s unlikely he will have close to the on-field career of the legend he replaced, Justin Tucker, Loop’s rookie season is quite similar to what Tucker managed in his first NFL season.

Loop: 30/34 FG (88.2%) 8/9 (40-49yds) 1/4 (50+) 44/45 (XP)

Tucker: 30/33 (90.9%) 10/13 4/4 42/42

Tucker, of course, went on to set an NFL distance record and prove to be one of the best ever in the clutch, in the playoffs, and from 50+ yards. It’s fair to assume Loop continues to make strides in year two and – given that Minter comes from a coaching family tree that’s skewed uber-conservative at going for it on fourth down – gets more opportunities to attempt kicks from distance in 2026.

When he does, Loop seems convinced of a very different outcome.

“No one wishes they could have that kick back more than me,” Loop said. “But you have to move on.”

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