Baltimore Ravens rookie kicker Tyler Loop has been clutch this season, but he failed when it mattered the most on Sunday night in the Ravens' heartbreaking 26-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers .
Loop had not missed on a field goal attempt inside 50 yards all season until his 44-yard field goal went wide right on the last play of the game.
"For it to end like that sucks, and I want to do better," Loop said . "Unfortunately, the nature of the [kicker] job is you have makes, and those are awesome, and unfortunately, you have misses, and for that to happen tonight sucks."
There have been over 60,000 field-goal attempts in NFL history. Loop's miss on Sunday night is the only one of those attempts that came as time expired in the fourth quarter in the final week with both teams' playoff hopes resting solely on the result of his kick, according to OptaStats.
Loop said he just mishit the ball.
"It was a great situation, exactly what we wanted, and unfortunately, I just mishit the ball," Loop said. "We call it hitting it thin. It spins fast and goes off to the right.
"The second it made contact with my foot, I felt it lower. We talk about hitting on the fourth lace of the shoe. It felt a little lower down the foot and hit it thin."
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson said he did not talk to Loop after the game, but he did talk to him in the middle of the game when he kicked the ball our of bounds. Lamar admitted he was "livid" at him.
"But I told him, 'I'm just hyped based off the emotions of the game right now.' I felt like it was going to come down to him winning the game for us at the end based on how it was going. He's a rookie, you know. It's all good. Just leave it in the past."
The Ravens now head into the offseason, while the Steelers advance to the Wild Card Round to play the Houston Texans .
Loop's missed kick will live forever in Steelers-Ravens lore.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Ravens Kicker Tyler Loop Explains Missed Field Goal
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