Tyler Loop delivered on Wednesday, knowing that all eyes were on him.
At the conclusion of mandatory minicamp, the Ravens' kicker was asked to make a 40-yard field goal to prevent the entire team from having post-practice meetings. Loop nailed it, and his teammates celebrated.
That's not how the Ravens' 2025 season ended, but Loop wants people to know he has moved past the cruelest moment of his young career. He missed a 44-yard field goal in Pittsburgh on the game's final play, resulting in a 26-24 Ravens loss that ended their season.
Had Loop made the kick, the Ravens would have won the AFC North and made the playoffs. He can't erase that moment, but he is determined to overcome it as he enters Year 2.
"I would say that the biggest thing I did was acknowledge and accept it," Loop said. "Moving on from the kick itself was pretty easy. I'd say the biggest part moving on was just letting the people that I care about, and that care about me, know that I'm good. Nothing's changed for me. I still feel confident in my abilities."
The Ravens have shown confidence in Loop by not signing another kicker to challenge him for the job. They're firmly backing their sixth-round pick from a year ago, believing in his talent and toughness.
"Anytime that's your position as you go through high school, college, all the way up, you kind of realize you live through some good times and some bad times," Head Coach Jesse Minter said. "It's a process-driven position. You have to be able to flush out bad things that happen, trust your process.
"I thought he had a really good rookie season overall, but of course you're judged by some of the biggest moments. We want to create opportunities for him to have these moments in front of people, in front of the team. Glad he knocked that one through."
Minter did not rule out bringing in another kicker to challenge for the job at some point.
"You play in September," Minter said. "I think there's ongoing talks and conversations about every position. We feel really good about where he's at. He'll continue to work over the summer, he'll continue to work in camp. But again, we play in September, so that gives us a lot of time to answer questions as they may come up."
Loop made 30 of 34 field goal attempts as a rookie, but he never faced a potential game-winning kick inside the final two minutes until that fateful boot in the season finale.
There's no way to recreate that kind of pressure in practice, or in non-game winning situations. However, Loop trusts his process that got him to the NFL. He also receives expert tutelage from Special Teams Coach Randy Brown, who handpicked Loop to be Baltimore's kicker after a coast-to-coast search during the pre-draft process.
Loop has received encouraging phone calls and texts from other kickers who have overcome similar setbacks and insists his confidence has not been shaken.
"It's hard to understand from an outside perspective the amount of confidence and work that I have in the process we've developed," Loop said. "I'm good. I've been doing this for years, and I feel really comfortable. It's the same feeling I had the entire time I was getting ready to take that kick: 'Yeah, this is going in.'"
After the miss in Pittsburgh, Loop had to deal with personal attacks on social media, which wasn't a pleasant experience for him or his family. He shook that off and got married this offseason anyway.
No matter how well he kicks during training camp and preseason, he may have to wait a little while until he has another chance to kick a game-winner during the regular season. That means Loop must remain patient until his next meaningful opportunity.
Loop said he had a late "lockout" that caused the ball to sail wide right. He watched the missed kick on film the next day and said he hasn't watched it since. Loop insists that his mental and physical approach from last season remain unchanged, and that he has put the Pittsburgh miss behind him.
"It has to be completely flushed away on the next kick, on the emotional side," Loop said. "I play a very factual position. You either made the kick, fact, or you missed the kick, fact. You learn from it and you move on.
"You have to say, 'I'm still capable of doing this.' My process hasn't broken. There may have been a hiccup or something that went wrong. You need to be able to look at that, address it, and say I'm good."
Pro Bowl safety Kyle Hamilton said all the Ravens still believe in Loop. On Wednesday, he got them out of meetings. During the season, Hamilton envisions Loop helping Baltimore win games.
"We've all had stuff go bad for us in the NFL," Hamilton said. "I've probably had 100 times as many bad plays as Loop as had bad plays.
"You can't dwell on it. You play this game long enough you're going to have some down moments. … I think we all have faith in Loop. He missed that kick in Week 6, nobody would be talking about it. Given the situation, come back and get better."
