The Pittsburgh Steelers blocked a punt at the beginning of the fourth quarter. They had just started a drive in the red zone at the 16-yard line after a Mykal Walker interception return. They went for it on 4th and 2 from the 8-yard line and failed. They quickly forced a three-and-out on the New England Patriots.
Miles Killebrew blocked the punt, and it was downed at the 26-yard line, the offense taking over down 21-10 in the fourth quarter. It was Killebrew’s fourth blocked punt in three seasons with the Steelers. He had one in his career before joining the team.
The Steelers made the most of the second opportunity by scoring five plays later with a scramble by QB Mitch Trubisky. They also attempted the two-point conversion after and succeeded with a pass to TE Pat Freiermuth.
This blocked punt was exactly the spark the Steelers needed to get back into the game. The score is now 21-18 with a little over 10 minutes remaining. Head coach Mike Tomlin discussed the significance of special teams in this game earlier in the week. The flow of this game hasn’t gone exactly how Tomlin probably figured it would, but special teams have made a big difference as predicted.
