Another game, another bit of history for Pittsburgh Steelers third-year kicker Chris Boswell. Fresh off of his recognition as a Pro Bowler for the 2017 season, the calm, cool, and collected placekicker for the second seed in the AFC merely set a new franchise record for the most field goals made in a single season, knocking back his 34th and 35th of the year.
At the end of the Steelers’ opening drive of the game, which stalled at the Texans’ 16-yard line, Boswell was true from just 34 yards out to give the team an early 3-0 lead. In doing so, he surpassed Gary Anderson’s 33 field goals, a record that he set in 1985.
Shortly before halftime, with less than a minute to play in the fourth quarter, Boswell was called upon for a second and final time in the game, this time with the offense stalling at the 18-yard line. The 36-yard attempt was good once again, and this time he surpassed Norm Johnson’s 34 field goals.
That was the Steelers’ team record for the most field goals in a single season since 1995. Boswell now owns that record with 35, and he still has another game to potentially add to that total. But the even better news is that the team did not need him for their other four trips inside the red zone en route to a 34-point showing.
On the season now, Boswell has connected on 35 of 38 field goals, producing a success rate of 92.1 over the course of the first 15 games. His field goal percentage ranks sixth in the league this year among kickers with at least 10 attempts. The only more accurate kicker in the AFC has been the Patriots’ Stephen Gostkowski.
He is now 87 for 97 in his career, owning a career 89.5 percent success rate on field goal attempts over the course of his first three seasons. If he is successful on his next three field goals attempts during the regular season, then he will hit the 90 percent mark.
Currently, the Ravens’ Justin Tucker owns the highest accuracy percentage in the history of the NFL. Including his strong season this year, he has successfully connected on 90.09 percent of the field goals that he has attempted in his career.
At the moment, Pro Football Focus indicates that Boswell owns the second-best field goal percentage in the history of the game behind Tucker for a career. But the site only registers kickers who have attempted at least 100 field goals in their career, so if he hits and makes three field goals against the Browns, he will jump right to second on this list. Dan Bailey is currently second with 88.57 for his career, and that is after missing four of 11 attempts in the past three weeks. That dropped his average down from 90 percent.
