Look Kevin, I feel sorry for the kid. He is in a tough spot. The next time he lines up for a pressure kick, you, me, Harbaugh, the coaches, the players and all of the fans will cringe.

Frankly he should nver have been put in this position. Of all the issues the team should have addressed during the offseason, Stover was the least of their worries. Why Newsome and Harbaugh made replacing Stover with an inexperienced kicker a priority still baffles me.

I am worried about the kid. He appears to be very smart but also very emotional. When he says he still confident we all know he is whistling in the dark and is petrified that the next game could come down to another do or die kick.

I think the team should bring in a veteren kicker now rather than risk this kid's mental health and future.

Not to mention the fact that the Ravens have little margin for error going forward. If the team has a chance to win a game on a field goal we need a veteren kicker making that attempt.

A former kicker friend of mine tells me kickers who miss kicks to the left, exactly what steve does on all his important kicks is the worst way possible to miss a kick.

Not sure exactly why, but this kid NEVER made a kick when it counted, from preseason, vikings to last week. WHY should we have confidence in him and why should he have confidence in himself.

Karma is a great thing and the Ravens are getting exactly what they deserve for the way they threw out one of the GREATEST RAVENS OF ALL TIME. NOT SURE WHY STOVER ISN"T IN THE RING OF HONOR ALREADY!

Any chance Stover will be released when Vinateri comes back? Maybe we could re-sign him?

I feel for the kid, I'd love to see him fight through this and end up being the Ravens kicker for the next decade plus. You're right.

However, I do think it is worthwhile to harp on the poor organizational decision-making that led to this situation. We had an accurate and pressure-tested kicker in Stover. A respected leader on the team and a fan favorite. He had played his whole career for this organization and wanted to stay.

Why didn't we bring him back? Because Ozzie and John Harbaugh thought that the 53rd best player on the roster was worth more than having a kicker we can count on, one that has proven time and time again that he can carry us through games and win them in the end. I think this may have been a case of organizational hubris-- maybe our front office is so enamored with its talent assessment reputation that it truly believed that even the 53rd best guy on the team was a star in the making. However, when I think #53 I think Frank Walker; and if that were the tradeoff we effectively dropped someone who would have won us games for someone who has lost them for us.

So I say this not just to harp on the past, but to point out a critical decision-making flaw that could hurt us again in future years. The 53rd man is NEVER worth more than the proven commodity, the guy that has shown he can win you games.

Also, I find it odd that the rationalle for dropping Stover centered on his inability to deliver booming kickoffs into the end zone, which would have required keeping two kickers on the roster. However, in addition to Hauschka's FG issues I haven't really seen him distinguish himself in kickoffs. In essence, we traded off having two people who could do each job well for one person who isn't really excelling at either.

I'm sure Harbaugh and everyone else at the Ravens will plead "20/20 hindsight" and say that their decision-making was rational, but this clearly isn't the case. There were a lot of intelligent fans and sportswriters questioning this decision throughout the preseason and predicting this exact outcome, including myself (if not with certainty, then clearly the risk of this outcome, which alone should have been sufficient to bring back Stover).

So my final point is this: if final roster cuts are coming down to a close decision regarding the 53rd and final spot on the roster, and it could go either way, why not give the fans a say? Ravens fans have had a pretty clear voice throughout this and at some point I think as stakeholders to this team that should have been respected.

At least he talks to the media after a tough loss unlike some other people on the team. That's more than you can say than some other supposed outstanding players of the team.

Gil --

Perfectly stated.

I will add that I also feel bad for Steve Hauschka, because he should not have been put in a position where his failure hurt the team so badly. This is a team that *can* win 10 or 11 games. However, a more reasonable expectation puts the Ravens at 9-7 at the end of the season, with Hauschka's miss being the most obvious single point of failure, the difference between 9-7 and 10-6.

Of course, that's an overly simplistic view -- there are plenty of other failures that come to mind (ahem, Mr. Clayton) and there is plenty of football left to be played. Haushka's performance -- as well as how the Ravens finish the season -- will largely determine how we view Steve Hauschka's missed field goal in MN. If they make the playoffs, the Minnesota miss will be a blip on the radar of a long season. If they miss the playoffs by going 9-7 instead of 10-6, his miss will be come under far more intense scrutiny.

Regardless, they felt the need to fix something that wasn't broken and that decision may haunt the team and it's fans well into the offseason.

It's tough not to feel sorry for the perpetual deer-in-the-headlights look. And, yes, like Mark said, at least he faces the media and takes responsibility after a loss unlike some #52 "leaders" on the team.

I think we are pretty much stuck with him. The trading deadline has come and gone, not that that is a viable way to go. The guy Ozzie really wanted was Mr. Irrelevant that went to KC.

Nevertheless with depth on this team being as much of a question mark as it was during the past offseason and during training camp, having two kickers made no sense. Unless Koch could have done the kickoff duties -- and I'm guessing that was considered -- the Ravens needed a replacement for Stover.

Unfortunately, that still looks to be the case.

I agree with all of the props Stover is getting universally, but the Ravens do have to move on.

Oh and Steve -- we are on a first name basis with our current kicker, aren't we? -- we have faith in you. We really do. We mean it this time. And not just because it is by default.

What a confluence of situations coming together this year to create such a fuss about the kicking game.It evens goes back to releasing Stover as if the man might still linger around the castle for his last hurrah later after pre season.Well,Steve,you won the right to kick for the Ravens; now the dream comes down to this boiling pt. moment. Please,kick the damn ball like you know how and most of this discussion will disappear in time. Have some fun next time out on the game field.

Steve "The Chokester" Hauschka He should Want to be the MAN to win the game! He works at it all day long.Then when its his time to be the MAN... he wishes somebody else was there to make the kick for him.He does not have the make-up to use the pressure to his advantage.HE IS NOT A ANCHOR MAN.

In an odd way, the best thing for Hauschka is to have the next "big" kick come as soon as possible. The fact is that he can make 10 in a row when the game is not on the line, and no one will care if he blows it in the clutch. On the other hand, if he starts missing routine kicks, he could get the boot before he even gets another clutch opportunity. Everything to lose and nothing to gain in that scenario. (Of course, if his next clutch opportunity is against the lowly Browns, we have bigger problems.)