Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season is getting underway after the team finished above .500 but failing to make the postseason last year, we turn our attention to the next chapter of Steelers football and everything that entails. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on more specific contexts as we get into the season, reflecting more immediate plusses and minus rather than trends over long periods. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: P Pressley Harvin III
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: In spite of the fact that he ended up with two touchbacks, it was a good game for third-year P Pressley Harvin III, who stepped up when the team needed him most and helped pin the Cleveland Browns deep multiple times.
Of his seven punts, Pressley Harvin III spotted the Browns little wiggle room, pinning them inside the 20 on four occasions. He had just a little too much mustard on two other punts, which resulted in a pair of touchbacks, but as an overall performance, it was certainly a positive one and an improvement from a week ago.
Head coach Mike Tomlin was critical of the punting game in regard to the field position battle following their loss in the season opener. This week, he praised the punting game as playing a pivotal role in limiting the Browns in the second half.
In fact, Harvin pinned the Browns inside their own 10 on four occasions, including at or inside the five twice. On one drive, Cleveland started with a 99-yard field to traverse. They did get to the Steelers’ 41 before the defense finally forced a fumble, but how different might that have been if they started instead from their 25?
Of course, the offense and defense didn’t always do much with the opportunities. As mentioned, they let the Browns march into Steelers territory on the time that they were pinned on their own one-yard line. They did end up with good field position three times, but it only led to three total points.
In other words, the Steelers need to do better at Tomlin’s favorite thing: complementary football. When the special teams pins opponents deep, the defense needs to get them off the field as quickly as possible and to put the offense in good position to score. And then the offense has to score.
Up to this point, Harvin’s career has been defined by inconsistency. He has made some excellent punts but seems to have just as many “junior varsity” ones, or at least that had been the case in the past. He has tightened up a bit each year and is off to a solid start in 2023 overall, but he still hasn’t established himself as a reliable, dependable specialist.
