Despite missing another extra point Sunday, his sixth total missed kicked of the season, Mike Tomlin’s confidence in Chris Boswell remains high.
At his weekly Tuesday press conference, Tomlin was asked what level of concern he has in Boswell. His answer remain unchanged.
“No, we got a lot of confidence in him,” Tomlin said. “It’s something that he has to work through and he will. But this guy didn’t forget how to kick.”
It echoed similar statements he made earlier in the year. Since then, Boswell has seemed to mostly get back on track, making seven of his last eight kicks, extra points included.
Although Boswell missed his first extra point against the Atlanta Falcons, he showed the mental toughness to bounce back and hit the rest of them. That’s an important confidence booster entering this critical AFC North stretch that will define the Steelers’ season.
Tomlin cited the larger body of work in Boswell’s career as reason to be confident moving forward.
“This guy has delivered for us a lot these last few years. I do not have amnesia in that regard. He’s gotten me out of that stadium in Cincinnati a few times. So I look forward taking him to Cincinnati.”
In 2015, Boswell made four field goals in a 33-20 regular season win over the Bengals. In the Wild Card game later that season, he did it again, connecting on another four, in an 18-16 field goal fest, including the game-winner with 35 seconds left. Last year, he hit from 38 yards out as time expired to beat Cincinnati.
Boswell did suffer a foot injury during practice last week but ultimately didn’t miss any time so it’s hard to put any of the blame there. Danny Smith said last week they identified two technique flaws that contributed to his struggles but with the miss Sunday, there’s evidently still some work to be done.
