While the Pittsburgh Steelers won their regular-season opener on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons, some of the issues on offense that were present in the preseason carried over to the regular season.
The starting offense managed just one touchdown throughout nine drives in the preseason. They were held without a touchdown in their 10 drives in the regular season opener. There were still things to like on offense, but the Steelers can’t expect Chris Boswell to keep nailing field goals from 50-plus yards even if that is exactly what he did in Week 1.
Finding the end zone has been a problem for years now, and TE Pat Freiermuth knows it is time to turn that around.
“I definitely felt that we were able to sustain drives and possess the ball. Obviously our next step is finishing for touchdowns,” Freiermuth said in a video posted on the Steelers’ website.
The Steelers had three drives of 10 plays or more in this game. That is something they only managed to do twice in all of 2023. There were only two three-and-out drives, and they won the time of possession battle pretty handily. So Freiermuth is absolutely right that they possessed the ball and there were positives to take away from the performance.
Eventually, they will need to find ways to get into the end zone. But when they don’t, it sure is nice to have a kicker like Boswell.
“Obviously, we have the utmost confidence in Boz,” Freiermuth said. “Ever since I’ve been here, he’s been knocking field goals down and through the uprights. I wish, selfishly, as an offensive guy we were able to put it in the end zone more. But it is good, when we don’t do that, it’s good to have the best kicker in the NFL.”
They said it on the broadcast several times, but Boswell is the most accurate kicker of all time from 50-plus yards. He nailed three of those on Sunday to extend his lead, including a 57-yard field goal to put the Steelers’ first points on the board. His performance actually bumped him slightly up the all-time field goal percentage list to pass Ka’imi Fairbairn. He is now in sixth place.
Boswell needs just 13 more points, or three field goals and a PAT, to become the second Steeler of all-time to score 1,000 points.
Obviously they need to get in the end zone, but it is nice to know that they have the ultimate safety blanket to ensure the offense comes away with at least three points more often than not.
