Pittsburgh Steelers K Chris Boswell has been one of the league’s best and most consistent kickers during his tenure with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and that’s continued this season. Boswell is 23-24 on field goals this season, with his only miss coming from 62 yards out in Week 3. But while he’s kicking, Boswell isn’t paying attention to what’s happening around him, as he told Ben Roethlisberger on his Footbahlin podcast that he’ll “black out” during kicks.
“To me, it’s almost kind of like I black out. I nod at Corliss right now, and then I couldn’t tell you anything else that happened until after the kick. Christian [Kuntz] will come up to me like, ‘Hey, how as the snap how was the hold.’ Like, I don’t know, go watch film. I don’t have a clue. Unless I see Corliss turning, jumping, then obviously I pick that up, but everything is so rhythmic, that as soon as I give the nod, it’s like go.”
Kicking is a mental game, and the best kickers have their routine down pat and are so oriented with what they know they have to do that they can be singularly focused and not worry about what’s happening around them. Being a kicker is one of the loneliest positions in football, as you’re in a high-stakes, high-pressure environment, and you’re the only one out there on offense who can really control the outcome.
Having good blocking, a good snap, and a good hold matters, but a kicker must be zoned in and focus on their process. For Boswell, as soon as he nods at Waitman, he’s only focused on going through his routine and his rhythm to make sure he’s going to make the kick. It’s what works, and it’s one of the things that makes him so lethal as a kicker, with Jon Gruden calling him a “Terminator.”
It helps that the Steelers have a good special teams operation, as there aren’t too many issues with Christian Kuntz as a snapper or with Corliss Waitman as a holder. Waitman’s familiarity with Boswell is one of the reasons the Steelers brought him back after Cameron Johnston suffered a season-ending injury. It’s crucial to have the operation between the snapper, holder, and kicker down pat for a team to have a successful kicking game.
That’s been the case for the Steelers, and the lack of issues with snaps has allowed Boswell to zone in and focus and just worry about doing his job without needing to panic about a bad snap or a bad hold. Besides that fact, Boswell is just flat-out good at kicking, and he’s really been Pittsburgh’s most consistent offensive weapon since he joined the team in 2015. He’s one of the reasons the Steelers are so good in close games, and if he can continue his output this season down the stretch, the Steelers will continue to be a dangerous opponent.
