Meet Rookie Kicker Justin Tucker

Rookie undrafted free agent Justin Tucker was signed by the Baltimore Ravens today and now will have the duty of competing against veteran Billy Cundiff for the starting kicking position.

Billy Cundiff also came into the league as an undrafted free agent. As we all know he was much maligned at the end of the Ravens season for missing a potential game-tying field goal against the Patriots in the AFC Championship game which sailed wide left from 32 yards away.

The missed field goal was certainly puzzling seeing as Cundiff had made 10 of them between 30-39 yards during the regular season but on the road he went 11/20 comparing to his 17/17 record at home. Also he was only 1 for 6 from 50 plus yards which certainly explained coach John Harbaugh's reason to avoid taking what would have possibly been a tying field goal from that distance earlier in the game.

Bill Cundiff's Regular Season Stats/Splits: http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/splits/_/id/4245/billy-cundiff

Justin Tucker's Texas profile page: http://www.texassports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/tucker_justin00.html

Jamison Hensley Needs a Better Clue

I have enjoyed reading writer Jamison Hensley's work since he was a key contributor of Ravens news for the Baltimore Sun and felt happy for him when ESPN brought his talents to their website to cover the AFC North Division.

Following John Harbaugh's controversial comments regarding the punishments that the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots have undergone, a media storm of negativity has unfortunately blown his comments way out of proportion. Among the media, I am specifically targeting Jamison Hensley for his somewhat surprisingly one-sided thoughts on the matter.

The controversy stems from a statement John made about the Patriots being punished for the "Spy-Gate" incident in 2007 that found the team recording defensive signals from the Jets' sideline. When asked about the Saints bounty hit's scandal on Baltimore's 97.9 FM, John directed the attention towards the Patriots first and then stopped himself from mentioning the Saints.

"In the end, everything is brought before the light of day, when it’s all said and done," "What happens, even the thing in New England, no matter whether those things had any impact on whether they won their championships or not, they got asterisks now. It’s been stained."

Listen to the radio interview here: http://thejoint.98online.com/_Coach-Harbaugh/audio/935921/13306.html


When Hensley goes on to make an argument that Harbaugh should have kept his mouth closed because Bill Belichick was the one to give Ravens' owner Steve Bisciotti a good referral for their head coaching vacancy, it wreaked of a mafia like mentality.

"Harbaugh was right in saying that the Patriots' championships will always be questioned because of Spygate. He was the wrong person to say it, though." "This shows a lack of loyalty on Harbaugh's part."