One year after finishing 21st in the league on special teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers improved four spots in 2023 in Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings, which he released Friday.
It can be difficult to quantify special teams in the NFL today. Of course, special teams can be judged on things like the amount of return yards on kicks and punts that are allowed as well as field goals made or missed, and average yards per punt.
However, those numbers rarely tell the whole story when it comes to a specific special teams unit. Nor do they help compare one special teams unit to another.
To do that, Gosselin, a longtime beat writer and columnist covering the NFL and the Dallas Cowboys for the Dallas Morning News, has found a way to quantify special teams play compared to others around the NFL.
Gosselin, who runs rickgosselin.com, released his 2023 NFL Special Teams Rankings Friday. In those rankings, the Steelers landed at No. 17 overall.
In Gosselin’s rankings, he gives each team points based on their statistical rankings in 22 kicking-game categories and assigned points according to their standing – one for best, 32 for worst.
Pittsburgh scored 356 total points in Gosselin’s rankings, and the Houston Texans led the NFL in the special teams rankings with 236 points. The Los Angeles Rams finished last with 493 points.
Pittsburgh was firmly right in the middle, just 120 points from the top of the rankings, but 137 points from finishing last.
The 2023 season was a strong one for the Steelers on special teams overall under Danny Smith. Kicker Chris Boswell, who received one All-Pro vote Friday from the Associated Press, converted 29-of-31 field goals on the season, consistently putting points on the board for the Steelers.
Boswell was also 27-of-28 on extra points and hasn’t missed a field goal since Week 13 against the Arizona Cardinals. He missed his lone extra point in Week 15 against the Indianapolis Colts.
In the return game, Godwin Igwebuike had some strong play for the Steelers. He averaged 25.6 yards on 11 kick return on the season and had a huge heads-up play displaying great football IQ on a kickoff in Week 18 against the Baltimore Ravens, laying out of bounds before grabbing the kickoff, leading to a penalty on the Ravens.
Calvin Austin III had some success as a punt returner with 8.6 yards per return on the season.
Punting was an issue at times for the Steelers under Smith as Pressley Harvin III was as inconsistent as they come. He averaged just 39.1 net yards per punt on the season and really had some woeful performances. That said, Harvin had a long of 63 yards on the season and dropped 30 punts inside the 20-yard line on 78 punts.
The Steelers were a force covering punts though. Pittsburgh blocked three punts on the season with first-team All-Pro Miles Killebrew blocking two punts and Connor Heyward blocking one punt. The Steelers did a great job getting after the ball under Smith, leading to some game-changing punt blocks, tying for the league lead with three on the season.
