Even though he missed yet another field goal on Sunday, his seventh one of the season, Chris Boswell will apparently remain the Pittsburgh Steelers kicker this coming Sunday when the team plays the New Orleans Saints on the road.
When asked on Tuesday during his press conference if he is satisfied enough with what Boswell did this past Sunday against the Patriots, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin had a short reply.
“I’m not into that to that ‘satisfaction’ word,” Tomlin said. “We’re ready to move forward this week.”
When asked if that meant moving forward as Boswell as the team’s kicker, Tomlin said, “yes.”
After missing wide right on a 32-yard field goal in the third quarter of Sunday’s home win over the New England Patriots, Boswell was given another opportunity in the fourth quarter and was good on a 48-yard field goal attempt with 2:34 left in regulation time to put the Steelers up by 7-points. After the game was over, Boswell was asked if Tomlin told him he was going to go back to him later in the contest even after he had missed his first attempt.
“Yeah, he told me to keep my head in there because he’s coming right back to me and that’s just the way the game goes,” said Boswell, who also added that basically everyone on the team showed him support after his first failed attempt.
Boswell took some heavy abuse on social media on Sunday and Monday and especially on Twitter as not only did several users suggest that he kill himself for his recent poor play, but others presented him with some very old homophobic tweets of his from several years ago. That activity ultimately resulted in Boswell deleting his Twitter account.
Last week the Steelers brought in two free agent kickers for a tryout session that included Boswell participating as well. Tomlin decided to stick with Boswell after those tryouts took place and former Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham was even brought to practice last week to work with the struggling kicker.
The Steelers will undoubtedly need Boswell to make several key kicks moving forward into the remainder of the season and hopefully on into the playoffs. The Steelers have probably been more patient with him than most other teams would be and now we’ll see if that patience pays off starting Sunday in New Orleans.
