While offenses and defenses usually get all of the shine, special teams remain one of the most important facets of the football. Bad special teams play can really hurt a team, and conversely, good special teams play can be the difference in a win that very well could have been a loss. The latter is especially true for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Despite the Baltimore Ravens scoring two more touchdowns than the Steelers on Sunday, with Chris Boswell kicking and Corliss Waitman holding, Pittsburgh booted six field goals en route to an 18-16 win.
Pittsburgh’s most notable member on special teams unit is Boswell. It makes sense, as Boswell leads all NFL kickers with 29 field goals made. He’s also second in field goal percentage at 96.7. There have been two games this year in which Boswell has kicked six field goals. Being honest, Pittsburgh might not have won either of them without him. However, one special teams player who deserves more credit is Waitman.
The punter has quietly been very good for Pittsburgh this season. He earned some praise from head coach Mike Tomlin, who gave his keys to the upcoming Browns game on Wednesday via a video posted to the Steelers’ official YouTube channel.
“He’s done an awesome job for us,” Tomlin said of Waitman. “His ability to hold is probably one of the reasons we chose him from the collective. We knew we were potentially gonna have a little bit of instability in punting because of the circumstance, and we didn’t want to compromise our field goal kicking in the midst of that. His experience with Boz as a holder really gave him a leg up in the punting battle. He’s done both equally well since coming back to us.”
The circumstances Tomlin is talking about came in the first game of the season. Steelers punter Cameron Johnston went down with an injury against the Atlanta Falcons. Waitman was brought in as his replacement and has been very good.
As Tomlin alludes to, his punting isn’t the only thing he brings to the table. Boswell is an elite kicker. Still, you can’t lead the league in field goals without a quality snapper and holder. Waitman has been consistently solid as a holder. Despite losing their punter in the season opener, Waitman has helped keep the Steelers’ punt and field-goal units rolling.
