Ravens vs Saints recap: Justin Tucker’s first career missed XP leaves fans heartbroken

On a windy day in Baltimore, the number one scoring offense of the New Orleans Saints came to town to face the vaunted number one defense of the Ravens.

New Orleans received the ball to start the game. Baltimore’s defense stopped the Saints on five different third downs, but New Orleans stayed aggressive, going for it on fourth down all five times and successfully converting four. On 4th-and-1 at the four-yard line, Michael Pierce recovered a fumble from running back Alvin Kamara.

The Ravens offense stalled near midfield and had to punt. The Saints followed with a punt of their own. Finally, Baltimore was able to put points on the board with a 31-yard field goal from Justin Tucker.

Drew Brees responded by leading his offense on a 71-yard scoring drive. Brees hit former Ravens tight end Benjamin Watson for the one-yard touchdown and the 500th touchdown of Brees’ career.

With under two minutes to go in the first half, Joe Flacco found John Brown across the middle for a pickup of 56 yards to set Baltimore up in the red zone. Lamar Jackson was able to run it in for a one-yard touchdown with eight seconds remaining. Tucker’s extra point gave the Ravens a 10-7 lead heading into halftime.

Both teams opened the second half with a punt on offense. Baltimore was then able to extend their lead with a touchdown to rookie tight end Mark Andrews. With the fourth quarter quickly approaching, the Ravens led New Orleans 17-7.

However, the Saints were not done, as they responded with a 75-yard drive capped off by a two-yard touchdown run by Kamara to cut the lead to three points. Prior to this, Baltimore had not allowed a second-half touchdown all season.

After a punt from the Ravens, New Orleans scored yet again, this time a five-yard pass to Michael Thomas. The Saints now led for the first time in the game, 21-17.

With 4:45 left in the game, Baltimore’s offense was unable to convert on fourth down to keep the drive alive. Brees quickly marched his offense back down the field for a field goal, making it a full one-possession game.

Flacco and the Ravens offense had two minutes to tie the game and send it to overtime. After finding Michael Crabtree for consecutive plays, running back Javorius “Buck” Allen caught a pass and scampered down to the 15-yard line with 47 seconds remaining. A play later, Flacco found Brown for a 14-yard touchdown with only 28 seconds remaining, and it seemed the game was heading to overtime.

Unfortunately, Tucker, who has never missed an extra point attempt in his career, chose the absolute worst time to do so. With the missed extra point, Baltimore lost the game 24-23 in utterly heartbreaking fashion.

Flacco finished the game with 279 passing yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. Brown was the leading receiver with seven receptions for 134 yards and a touchdown.

The Ravens now fall to 4-3 and go on the road to face the Carolina Panthers next week.