Tucker’s missed XP a killer for Ravens

Justin Tucker has won a dozen games for the Baltimore Ravens with his incredibly accurate right foot.

This one will be remembered as the one he lost.

Tucker missed the first conversion of his career after the Baltimore Ravens scored the potential tying touchdown with 24 seconds left, enabling Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints to escape with a 24-23 victory Sunday.

Brees threw two touchdown passes, locked up two more milestones and engineered a comeback that helped the Saints (5-1) wipe out a 10-point deficit.

It was 24-17 before Joe Flacco directed a beatthe-clock drive covering 81 yards and ending with a 14-yard touchdown pass to John Brown.

That seemingly set up overtime, given that Tucker is the most accurate kicker in NFL history in terms of field goal percentage. Not only that, but he was 222 for 222 on conversions since breaking into the league in 2002, and was the only NFL kicker without a miss (112 for 112) since the placement of the ball was moved back in 2015.

This attempt, however, went wide right — the deciding moment in a matchup between the NFL’s highest-scoring offense and top-ranked defense.

“I can’t tell you exactly what happened,” Tucker said, “but at the end of the day I feel like I cost us the game.”

The Saints were relieved to escape with their fifth straight victory.

“You’re talking about one of the top kickers,” coach Sean Payton said. “I’m sure we’ll watch the tape tomorrow and think it shouldn’t have come down to a missed extra point.”

Brees brought back the Saints from a 10-point deficit against a unit that allowed only 12 second-half points all season.

The 39-year-old quarterback threw a 5-yard TD pass to Michael Thomas with 4:58 remaining to put New Orleans ahead 21-17, and the Saints tacked on a field goal just before the two-minute warning.

Earlier, Brees threw his 500th career touchdown pass, connecting with tight end Benjamin Watson for a 1-yard score to put New Orleans up 7-3 late in the second quarter.

The NFL leader in career passing yardage, Brees joined Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Brett Favre as the only quarterbacks in league history with 500 TD passes.

College football

CLEMSON NO. 2; OSU DROPS TO 11 >> Clemson is back at No. 2 in The Associated Press college football poll behind top-ranked Alabama, moving up to where it started, after a convincing victory and Ohio State’s first loss of the season.

The Crimson Tide are a unanimous No. 1, with all 61 first-place votes Sunday, for the first time this season.

The Tigers trailed only Alabama in the preseason rankings, but a couple of close wins in September — combined with seemingly impressive performances by other highly ranked teams — dragged Clemson to as low as No. 4.

Coming off a lopsided win against North Carolina State, Clemson rose a spot this week. Notre Dame is No. 3 and LSU is No. 4, setting the stage for a top-five matchup between the Tigers and Crimson Tide in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Nov. 3. Both have an open date this week.

Michigan is No. 5 and Ohio State dropped to No. 11 after being upset by Purdue.

No. 25 Appalachian State is ranked in the AP poll for the first time in school history. The Mountaineers (5-1) have not lost since opening the season with an overtime defeat at Penn State.

MLB

REDS HIRE BELL AS MANAGER >> David Bell has been hired as manager of the Cincinnati Reds, tasked with helping turn around a team that skidded to a 67-95 record and last-place finish in the NL Central.

The Reds said Sunday he has been given a three-year contract that includes a team option for 2022.

The Cincinnati native is to be introduced at a news conference Monday.

Cincinnati fired Bryan Price after a 3-15 start, and Jim Riggleman was interim manager for the rest of the season.

Bell was a minor league manager for the Reds from 2009-12, became the Chicago Cubs’ third base coach in 2013, St. Louis’ assistant hitting coach the following year and the Cardinals’ bench coach for the next three years.

He was San Francisco’s vice president of player development last season.