Across the board, the Pittsburgh Steelers struggled immensely on Sunday in their 30-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. One area in particular where the Steelers struggled was in the punting game. P Pressley Harvin III averaged just 42.3 yards per punt, and on the 49ers’ first touchdown drive, they started at their own 46 following just a 34-yard punt by Harvin. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin called out the punting game during his weekly Tuesday press conference.
“I don’t think we did a good enough job of punting the football. I think that was a component of it, particularly early. The field positioning component, their first two scores were on short fields,” he said. “If you’re not getting off the field on possession downs and your net punting isn’t good, chances are your opponent is gonna be on short fields, when they’re on short fields it drives up the propensity to score,” Tomlin said. “That component of the game was a significant letdown for us.”
The second score, a field goal, was set up by an interception so that one wasn’t on Harvin, but it certainly wasn’t a great day from the third-year punter. The Steelers brought in competition for Harvin with Braden Mann being claimed off waivers this offseason, but Harvin won the job with a strong preseason. Like most of the team, Harvin’s preseason performance didn’t carry over into the regular season.
When the offense struggles to the extent it did on Sunday, particularly throughout the first half, the onus is on Harvin and the punt coverage team to try and steal some yards with solid punting. But Harvin wasn’t good enough, and the punt coverage team allowed Ray-Ray McCloud to get some nice returns, including on an unforced error due to a facemask penalty by LS Christian Kuntz following a 57-yard punt from Harvin.
Harvin wasn’t good and the punt coverage team wasn’t good. For Harvin, the pressure is now on with Tomlin having called him out publicly and Mann still sitting in free agency. The Steelers showed they weren’t fully satisfied with what Harvin has done the last two seasons by adding the initial competition, and after a Week One performance that left a lot to be desired and now after a public call-out, it feels like the Steelers won’t hesitate to make a move if Harvin can’t get it together sooner rather than later.
Ideally, the offense will be better, and it won’t be up to Harvin to boom some punts to avoid giving the opponent short fields. Punts like Harvin’s 28-yarder in the third quarter are unacceptable, and that has to be cleaned up. Across the board, the Steelers need to be better, and that includes Harvin.
