I kept staring at my screen for most of the day, trying to decide whether another special teams film room was a good idea for this week. Usually, there are some big plays which stand out, even in this phase of football, to merit some film study.

This will look more like a highlight reel this week, as the Steelers third unit had a good game. With exception of one kickoff return (more on that in a bit) there’s not a ton to dissect. The Browns missed a field goal, but that’s more on their kicker Cody Parkey, than anyone from Pittsburgh.

Chris Boswell was apparently told to “boot it” this weekend; as discussed about “sky kicks” for weeks, all of Boz’ kicks went into the endzone or further.

The Browns, playing with nothing to lose, had their kick returner (Mario Alford) come out twice on deep kicks: one which landed at the -4 and another at the -5. Alford brought one of those kicks out to the Cleveland 32:

Alford got a bit lucky on this one, which is all you need sometimes.

First, Jarvis Jones slips and falls. Anthony Chickillo (right/top) and Jordan Dangerfield (left/bottom) both over-pursue. Justin Gilbert, who’s in the best position to drop Alford short of the 25 (and shorter than the starting spot from a touchback) misses a tackle which allows the Browns return man to gain additional yards at the end of the play. (Seven to be exact.)

However, Alford wasn’t as lucky with his second attempt to come out of the endzone, as he was stopped at the Cleveland 19 the next time.

Those would be Cleveland’s only two kick returns on the day, which I consider a win for the special teams unit (and redemption for Boswell, who hit two out-of-bounds a week earlier).

The same could be said about Jordan Berry‘s busy day. Berry punted eight times in the game, with none of those kicks traveling shorter than 40 yards:

1. 40
2. 43
3. 51
4. 40
5. 46
6. 41
7. 43

I purposely left Berry’s final punt(s) off of this list, because they were the best of the day. The first one was this outstanding 61-yard blast, which was nullified due to a penalty.

Most of the fans in attendance loved that punt, and then sighed when Berry had to re-kick.

No way he could possibly duplicate that result?

Wrong…

Backed up an additional two yards, Berry blasted his next punt farther!

This kick would travel 64 yards.

In a game full of irony for the Browns, their acceptance of the penalty would actually result in them getting a worse starting field position. The called back punt saw Mario Alford stopped at the 50, but the retake resulted in a net loss of 18 yards from the first try: the Browns offense, instead of starting at midfield, would begin at their own 32!

This series of events epitomized a game where the Browns would take two steps forward, and one step back. (Despite tying the game after this great punt.)

Regardless, Boswell and Berry did their part in trying to win the field position battle.