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Super Bowl missteps should bring 'extra' appreciation for Justin Tucker

Baltimore's Justin Tucker has made all 205 regular-season and all 23 postseason extra-point tries in his six seasons. Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire

Justin Tucker has really set the standard for all kickers in the NFL.

Tucker is the most accurate kicker in NFL history. He became the fastest pure kicker in NFL history to reach 800 career points, doing so in his 95th regular-season game.

But there should be some added respect for the Baltimore Ravens kicker after Sunday's Super Bowl, which featured two missed extra points. Eagles kicker Jake Elliott missed wide right on a point-after attempt in the first quarter, and the Patriots' Stephen Gostkowski was wide left on an extra point in the second quarter.

Tucker, meanwhile, is in a class by himself on point-after kicks. The six-year veteran is the only kicker in NFL history to make every extra-point attempt in his career (minimum 200 tries), according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Tucker has made all 205 extra points in the regular season (plus all 23 in the postseason), but he has work to do to set some league marks. The record for consecutive extra points made to begin a career is 321 by Rian Lindell from 2000-10, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Tucker’s point-after streak is tied for the sixth-longest streak to begin a career.

The record for most consecutive extra points is held by Gostkowski, who made 478 in a row from 2006-16. Tucker, who averages 34 extra points per season, would need to be perfect for another eight years to break that mark.

Extra points became more of a challenge starting in 2015, when the NFL first moved point-after attempts from the 2-yard line to the 15. So, instead of of a 19-yard kick, extra points became a 32-yard attempt.

Tucker wasn't happy about the change when it occurred three years ago.

“I think the idea is to add excitement to every single play," Tucker told the Ravens' website in 2015, "but really what it does is make every kicker’s job a little bit harder."

While others have had trouble making the adjustment, Tucker has remained perfect.