Pittsburgh Steelers K Chris Boswell entered Week 10 second in the league in points. After not even attempting a field goal against the Washington Commanders, he has fallen to third. Asked about his low-scoring performance by former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger, Boswell said, “It was a nice day”.
And boy was it. For the first time this year, Chris Boswell didn’t have to put one through the uprights just to salvage some points.
Even coming off the bye week, Boswell could have used the break. Over the first eight games, the Steelers asked him to attempt 24 field goals, Boswell making 23. He has been virtually automatic this year, his only miss from 62 yards. He went 6-for-6 in the season opener and at one point was on pace to make NFL history for the most made field goals in a season.
So zero field goals was something of a change for Boswell and the Steelers. “You really didn’t do anything this week”, Roethlisberger joked with the kicker on his Footbahlin podcast. “What’s wrong with you? Only four points this week?” Boswell did go 4-for-4 on point after attempts.
Unfortunately, Boswell’s brother isn’t as automatic. He said his brother texted him a stat that said it was the first time that he hadn’t attempted a field goal in 60 games. But he didn’t attempt a field goal twice just last season, against the Colts and 49ers. Prior to that, he did go 30 consecutive games with an attempt, the longest streak of his career.
Now Boswell has to start a new streak, but that’s fine by him when he gets out of a game without a field goal attempt. “I honestly don’t care. I’ll take four PATs and a win”, he said, which met with enthusiastic favor from Roethlisberger.
The Steelers’ offense produced four touchdowns, a rarity for that unit in recent years, and that was enough to beat the Washington Commanders. Chris Boswell has his plenty of game-winners for them over the years, but they only needed him for the PAT.
In actuality, they needed more than his field goal could offer. The Steelers trailed by six on their final full possession, so they had to find the end zone. And they did on 3rd and 9, Mike Williams reeling in a 32-yard touchdown pass. Boswell, of course, nailed the extra point, making it 28-27.
And considering Justin Tucker missed an extra point just last week in a game the Ravens won by one point, we can’t take those for granted. Boswell has had his issues with those in the past himself. Not including this season, he has only hit 100 percent of them three times in his career. Twice, he has missed four or more in a single season. So 4-for-4 on PATs is nothing to sneeze at, either.
