Josh Scobee will go down in Pittsburgh Steelers’ lore as one of those players that when you bring up to another fan, five, ten years from now, you both cringe. An orange juice after brushing your teeth reaction. Yuck.
It’s with good reason. He missed five kicks in four games, including costly ones in the Steelers 23-20 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. He was released following the game. And now, Scobee has revealed at least one of the reasons why he struggled so much – a leg injury he never fully revealed to the team.
CBS’ Jason La Canfora did issue a report following the game hinting at an injury but now, we know the details directly from Scobee.
He tells The Florida Times Union that he hurt his quad and hip muscles in his kicking leg before the Ravens game.
“They didn’t know much about it,” he told the paper.“I think they would have made the same decision [about cutting him]. It’s unfortunate, but things happen for a reason.”
Scobee missed twice in the final three minutes of that dreadful Ravens’ game, unable to push the Steelers lead to more than three. Justin Tucker would convert a 42 yarder right before time expired and the Ravens would ultimately win in overtime.
Mike Tomlin infamously went for it on 4th down twice in overtime, unsuccessful in each, and brought plenty of criticism on himself after the game.
Later that week, Tomlin said he was not aware of Scobee suffering from any injury.
“Scobee was not hurt, to my knowledge,” Tomlin specifically said.
The Steelers spent a 6th round pick to acquire him from the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Scobee told The Times Union that he’s had interest in the NFL throughout his rehab and now feels ready to kick again.
The Steelers would go on to sign Chris Boswell who is enjoying a remarkable first-year in the league.
