The first half of the 2024 season told us that this chapter of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens rivalry would be different, with the potential for a lot of scoring by both teams. That wasn’t the case at all with kickers deciding a game with a final score of 18-16. Chris Boswell didn’t just make the difference, he accounted for all 18 of the Steelers’ points.
This, of course, means the Steelers’ red-zone offense was miserable, so it is a double-edged sword. Mike Tomlin joked he is tired of Boswell needing to be great.
“I love Boz, but I’m tired of him getting player of the week,” Tomlin said via a video posted by the Steelers on X. “He probably got player of the week again this week. He’s deserving of it, but it reminds us of our warts. It reminds us of the work that we need to do. But man, no doubt, I’m thankful that he’s on our team.”
The Steelers had four drives that ended in the red zone and ran 14 plays in that area. Two of those drives ended inside the 10-yard line. Three of the four drives ended in a field goal, and one with Russell Wilson’s red-zone interception.
This has been an issue that’s plagued them all season. Entering the game, they were scoring touchdowns on just 50 percent of their red-zone opportunities. That was tied for eighth worst in the league entering Week 11.
On one hand, the Steelers let the Ravens hang around and still came out with a win. That is a very good team they were able to do that against. But would anybody feel great about that type of offensive performance against Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen in the playoffs? If you let other teams hang around, it greatly decreases the margin for error.
While that is all a negative to take away from this game, you can’t talk about this win without giving Chris Boswell his flowers. Russell Wilson called him the “best kicker in the world” in his postgame press conference. T.J. Watt called him a “beast.”
How about this stat from our very own Alex Kozora on X.
Boswell now has the most games with six or more field goals in league history.
In order, Boswell hit field goals from 32, 52, 32, 57, 27, and 50 yards out. If he misses any one of those, it could have been an entirely different outcome. Special teams has been a big weapon for the Steelers all season, and Boswell is one of the biggest reasons for that.
He won special teams player of the month in both September and October. There is a decent chance he continues that dominance and wins the award for November, too.
