The Ravens fans no longer have Steve Hauschka to kick around any longer, but the second-year kicker still has the support of his former teammates and coach John Harbaugh.

"You look at kickers in the league, I think there have been some kickers here that have gone on to do well after they left here," Harbaugh said Wednesday. "With young guys, it’s a process. David Akers, whom we had in Philly, we were his third team. So most of those guys, it takes a few years for them to work through it. Some guys do it in the first year, and that’s what you hope to have when you have a talented young guy. You go with your best option at that time. But he’s just not ready yet to handle the pressure of those kicks at this time. He’ll do well because if he doesn’t, he won’t make it. But he’s a great kid and he worked really hard. We’ll see how it goes."

Wide receiver Derrick Mason defended Hauschka, saying he should not be the sole target of fans' anger.

"I enjoyed having Steve here," he said. "I always encouraged him, regardless of what the situation was. One player doesn't win or lose games. There's one game in particular I know he wants back, but we can't solely put the blame on Steve. But in this business, it's a performance-based business, and if you're not performing to standard, then you've got to find a way to change it. And I guess they changed it."

"He understands what this business is about," Mason added. "It's weird with kickers because it's kind of like free throws and golf. When you get into a bad rhythm, it's hard to get out of it. I just think he was in a bad rhythm, and it was hard for him to kind of get out of it. But does that make him less of a player or a kicker? No. Everyone reaches a stretch in their career where it's not going the way they want it to go, and they've just got to fight themselves out of it. But unfortunately for Steve, he just kind of ran out of time. Hopefully, the next kicker who comes in here will be able to just kick extra points as opposed to three points."

Punter Sam Koch, who was Hauschka's holder, said he wouldn't be surprised if Hauschka landed with another team in the near future.

"With the way he kicks, there’s definitely a chance," Koch said. "He’ll get tryouts and stuff like that. He definitely has a future. He just has to go out there and have that confidence on Sundays and just go out there and kick them through like he does every day in practice here."