The Pittsburgh Steelers’ special teams have consistently been one of the best in football over the past few years, and that was especially true in 2024. From Week 5 to Week 9, the team recorded two blocked field goals, a blocked punt, a blocked extra point and a punt return for a touchdown. Since 2021, the Steelers have led the league with 11 blocked kicks, with six of those coming since 2023. During an appearance on the DVE Morning Show, Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz gave all the credit to special teams coordinator Danny Smith for his tireless work ethic and ability to find holes in opposing teams’ units.
“Danny’s watching so much film, he’s always finding one little nugget that could lead to a blocked punt, or one guy’s weakness on the other team,” Kuntz said. “Or something in the return game that he likes to see, if a guy doesn’t hit his landmark at the right angle. Just little things like that he always finds that creates a little advantage for us.”
Kuntz also said Smith is sometimes in the office until midnight, working on how to find an advantage for his unit. Smith is widely regarded as one of the best special teams coordinators in the league, and his tireless work behind the scenes puts his players in position to come through on game day.
With the Steelers’ offense struggling with consistency at times over the past few years, the ability to gain field position via special teams is huge. Not only have the Steelers been able to block punts and kicks, but last season, the team made a habit of forcing fumbles on punts, which put the offense in plus territory. Smith’s ability to study and exploit weaknesses has been paramount to Pittsburgh’s success over the past few seasons.
While the hope is that the offense is better this season, the Steelers are still going to need to create opportunities via special teams. If they can do so at the same level as last season, they’re going to be even more dangerous. Having a veteran coach who’s been around the game for a long time and has the work ethic that Danny Smith does should allow the Steelers to once again put together one of the best special teams units in the league.
