Flexible scheduling has yet to take over the 2023 NFL slate, but Tom Pelissero is dragging the Baltimore Ravens to after dark.
The NFL Network analyst/insider was previewing Baltimore's Sunday showdown with the Detroit Lions (1 p.m. ET, Fox) with Mike Garafolo. Pelissero referenced the teams' prior meeting, a 19-17 Ravens triumph earned through a Justin Tucker triple in September 2021 at Ford Field. The 66-yard closer, the last of four Tucker conversions on the afternoon, was the longest field goal in NFL history and more or less personified the star-crossed nature of Detroit football.
Alas, when recalling Tucker's deep ball and stressing the importance of a victory for the surging Lions (5-1), Pelissero bungled the verbal snap.
"There's still some of those ghosts of Justin Tucker banging a 60-year-old, uh, 60-yard field goal off the crossbar and through to beat the Lions (in 2021)," Pelissero recalled as Garafolo buries his face in his hand to hold back his laughter resulting from his cohort's unintentionally steamy recollection.
To his credit, Pelissero seemed to realize his error immediately and not only smirked it off but finished the rest of his pregame analysis without incident.
Despite its early afternoon setting, the Lions' visit to Charm City looms as one of the biggest games on the NFL's Week 7 slate. Both the Ravens and Lions lead their respective divisions and, as it stands, Detroit finds itself in unfamiliar territory as the class of the NFC, currently holding the best record alongside Philadelphia and San Francisco.
While far from, say, Brett Favre or Michael Jordan, Tucker may be one of the more quiet yet deadly nightmares for Motor City sports fans: the historic launch wasn't even the first time he sent Ford Field's visitors home depressed, as he previously launched a game-winning 61-yarder back in his second season in 2013. Baltimore leads the all-time series 5-1.
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