Former Baltimore Ravens kicker Matt Stover says the coaching staff of the Ravens will set up rookie kicker Tyler Loop and the rest of the kicking unit for success this season.
Loop, 24, has made all five of his field-goal attempts and 12 of 13 extra-point attempts this season.
“First of all, does [Loop] have the talent? Yes, it’s very evident that he does,” Stover said on Glenn Clark Radio Sept. 17. “Second, does he have the ability to have a fast learning curve and not have to make all the rookie mistakes that I did?”
Stover recalled that when he first started out kicking with the New York Giants in 1990 — six years before he would start playing with the Ravens — no one taught him how to properly kick, practice or train his snapper and holder. Seventeen years since his time with the Ravens ended, Stover believes the coaching staff will help Loop succeed.
Stover brought up Randy Brown, who has been on the Ravens’ coaching staff for the last 18 seasons and worked with Stover in 2008. Brown is currently the senior special teams coach.
“Randy is just a fantastic asset to that team … and of course you’ve got John Harbaugh who puts tremendous emphasis on his special teams,” Stover said. “Randy’s standards for the snap and hold are just incredible.”
Stover went in depth on how the specific position of the football and laces and the timing of the snap all create a well-tuned operation for the kicker to succeed. Stover praised Loop for hitting a 52-yard field goal in what was his first kick ever in the NFL. He added that how Loop responded well after missing an extra point in Buffalo — by hitting 43- and 32-yard field goals to help the Ravens crush the Browns a week after.
“Can he compartmentalize that miss and go out there and execute the next time? You’re going to miss, it’s just what you do with the next one,” Stover said. “He proved that he can do that.”
Flashing back to Stover’s time in the NFL, he remembered what it was like starting out on a Baltimore team with no name or logo and barely-ready facility. Despite all of this, the Ravens became a championship team and one of the best operations in the NFL in short order.
Transitioning straight from Cleveland and having no social network to fall back on was not easy for Stover or his team. He described the first year on the Ravens as a tough, tough time.
In terms of kicking on a technical level, Stover believes kickers who are hitting 60-plus-yarders in today’s game couldn’t do it with the grass in the late 1990s and early 2000s at what is now called M&T Bank Stadium. Kicking in Baltimore was a legitimate challenge for Stover, with bad grass growing unevenly and rain and wind picking up as the season went along.
“Just from a technique perspective, the grass is really what matters to me, and it was really bad there for years and years,” Stover said.
Stover credits the transformation that the Ravens franchise made from rags to riches to a number of people. First he mentioned Ozzie Newsome, whom he credited with drafting legends Jonathan Ogden and Ray Lewis in 1996. Next he praised the coaching of Brian Billick, who connected with the team’s veterans after taking over in 1999.
And finally he shouted out Steve Bisciotti, who bought a piece of the Ravens in 1999 and provided the team with the financial backing necessary to retain core players going into the 2000 season — when they won it all.
“You look back at all those decisions and see how it all played out, five years after that team moved to Baltimore, we won a Super Bowl? Are you kidding me? Who would’ve thought that?” Stover said.
For more from Stover, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox