Fans, Media Dump on Tucker and Lamar

The Perils of Recency Bias

The NFL is a week-to-week league. What happened in the past is rendered insignificant, if what happens in this moment is different, good or bad. We call that recency bias.

If a player has a great game that contributes mightily to a team’s victory this week, positive hyperbole flows like the Niagara River. Have a bad game and the negativity is as overamplified as Cris Collinsworth’s adoration of Patrick Mahomes. Just ask Justin Tucker and Lamar Jackson.

Most observers who influence the Hall of Fame voting, will tell you that Tucker will one day wear the coveted gold jacket. Until recently, Tucker was the league’s all-time leader in field goal accuracy, and he still holds the record for the longest field goal in NFL history with that 66-yard walk off boot in Detroit back on September 26, 2021.

But lately, things have changed, and Tucker has struggled. This season, he’s connected on just 16 of 22 field goal attempts (“FGA”). His 2024 success rate is 72.7%. Through 2023 his career success rate was 90.2%. That’s a precipitous drop off.

For twelve seasons Ravens fans have been treated to Tucker’s greatness. They’ve been spoiled. And now that he’s struggling and trying to work through the issues, so many fans across all social media platforms are calling for Tucker’s head. Forget about all those games when he bailed the team out. Forget about Tucker being named first team All Pro 5 times; second team All Pro 3 times; 8 Pro Bowl appearances; and he was named to the 2010 All-Decade Team. Let’s just kick that all to the curb and bail on the 35-year-old kicker when he hits a rough patch.

The prevailing winds of recency bias.

Fortunately, Tucker has the class and intestinal fortitude that some fans lack. He distributes praise to the “operation” after successful FGA’s but solely accepts responsibility for those that fail. He isn’t all up in his feelings while attempting to navigate his way through these struggles. Yesterday, he accepted the PR department’s request to address the media instead of hiding behind the fortress of The Castle walls.

“It’s unimportant how I feel, it’s how I perform,” Ravens kicker Justin Tucker said mood check he’s fine today. But he’s hard at work and determined to get right. pic.twitter.com/0qywuzbABg

— Morgan Adsit (@MorganAdsit) November 20, 2024

To head coach John Harbaugh’s credit, he has stood by his guy, encouraging, believing and ultimately understanding that Justin Tucker has earned that support.

I wish that I could say the same for some knuckleheaded Ravens fans.

Lambasting Lamar

We’ve all seen and heard the national programs and their blathering talking heads, particularly those on ESPN, go back and forth on Lamar Jackson the way J-Lo handles the men in her life. One minute, he’s a great regular season quarterback who fails in the playoffs. Then, when Lamar wows them with his generational talent they talk about the Hall of Fame, coming of age greatness and another MVP. But then comes a bad game and those same impressionable, spineless blowhards label Lamar a choker and a playoff pretender. And on Monday, if Lamar lights up the Chargers and the Ravens win convincingly, once again on a national stage, the Stephen As of the world will be throwing flowers in Lamar’s direction like a newlywed bride.

BREAKING: Mad Dog Russo on @espn @FirstTake DISGUSTINGLY tells Ravens QB Lamar Jackson he can “shove his MVPs up his a**”.

ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING and yes Stephen A Smith is smiling and laughing along!!! pic.twitter.com/19odKIrmKt

— Nitro The Wunderkind (@Nitro_Quantum) November 20, 2024

Screw them. Screw them all!

Some of these guys aren’t much different than the windbag women who they prop up on The View’s anchor desk. They’re insufferable in their presentation and their wishy-washiness.

But that said, there is a measure of truth in their criticisms of “big game” Lamar.

Jackson’s focus is singular. He doesn’t care about a spectacular play, a great game or even a dominant win. Each is nothing more than a steppingstone towards the ultimate prize that he vowed to deliver to Baltimore the day the Ravens drafted him in 2018. He chases The Lombardi with the steely-eyed conviction of a lion in the Serengeti tracking down a zebra. Yet during the biggest games, those being the playoffs and any time he’s opposite the colors of Patrick Mahomes or the Pittsburgh Steelers, his desire to win is so great that it ignites a level of heightened urgency that fundamentally takes him out of his game.

The things that Lamar can do on the field when opponents frenetically pursue him in frustration, accentuates his greatness. To calmly stand in the pocket and deliver; to extend plays; to take off for a first down when a bigger play isn’t available; to use an opponent’s aggression against him to deliver an even bigger play. All these things seem to vanish in many big games. Instead of being the organized processor in a sea of chaos, he creates his own chaos. In the end, the clarity and purpose are gone. He pinballs around the field like a rudderless ship. And he misses opportunities for big plays.

This video is painful to watch smh, a lot of big plays left on the field man pic.twitter.com/BVQw2oiQi5

— ð™•ð™–ð™˜ð™® (@NewEraZach) November 18, 2024

The film session Lamar had with his coaches to review these plays couldn’t have been pleasant, but he’ll get an opportunity to redeem himself on Monday Night. Look for a bounce back game from Lamar and the Ravens.

And then expect the recency bias to kick in again, followed by the impressionable know-it-alls climbing back upon the bandwagon.

Something else that Lamar nor any of us should care about.

The post Fans, Media Dump on Tucker and Lamar appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/11/21/lombardis-way/recency-bias-grips-ravens/