Another week and another set of frustrations with the Steelers special teams.

Just when you thought, after a lackluster set of highlights during the Cleveland Browns game, that the special teams film room wouldn’t return, because maybe the Steelers got it down pat.

They didn’t… though it really wasn’t all doom and gloom.

However, there were a few causes for concern.

It all started, when the game started. Mike Tomlin continues to verify that RB Fitzgerald Toussaint is not the primary kick returner: Sammie Coates is.

Yet, teams continue to kick away from Coates, which proves to be a wise decision, as Toussaint is a slower, less capable return-man. That could not be more illustrated by his decision to even remotely touch the football on the game’s opening kickoff from Miami kicker Andrew Franks.

As with any criticism of our beloved Steelers, I want to be fair: Toussaint has the awareness to know his move could’ve been deemed a safety, had he in fact touched the ball ahead of the goal line and attempted a touchback. That results would’ve been a momentum-shifting 2-points to the Dolphins before the clock starts to wind, as Fitz’ own momentum took him backwards.

I’m glad he recognized the potential for error, and made up for the mistake of not allowing the ball to flail into the endzone. I know everyone is amped up to play in this postseason game, but why (why) bother trying to catch this over your shoulder, turn, and bring it upfield?

Touchbacks are good for a start from the 25, and Toussaint can only manage 15 yards on his kick return.

Not good.

Fortunately, the Steelers offense more than made up for the error, and the loss of 10 yards of field possession ends up padding Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown‘s stats. (Yes, that is sarcasm, as I think they too would want to start at the 25 rather than the 15-yard line.)

Another special teams snafu deep into the third quarter gave the Dolphins excellent field position.

To Boswell’s credit, he puts this ball 6 yards deep into the endzone, but the Dolphins needed some type of spark, so their returner Kenyan Drake makes the most of it: way more than Toussaint did, to the tune of a 58-yard return and a start on the Steelers 48 for the Fish.

A few things to note on this play: Roosevelt Nix appears to get blocked in the back mid-return, in the middle of the field, with no flag. This would’ve erased a significant portion of the yards gained, and was an odd no-call from the officials following what appeared to be a clean block minutes earlier on offense, when Eli Rogers lit up an opponent.

The other note is play of journeyman CB Al-Hajj Shabazz, who has been on, off, and back on the Steelers active roster and/or practice squad, and even spent about a week with the Houston Texans two months ago.

Shabazz ends up making the stop here, after Darrius Heyward-Bey shows off his speed to cut off Drake’s angle, and end his chances of scoring on the play.

Shabazz had a game to talk about, something which typically goes unnoticed in the third phase of football:

https://twitter.com/ryanscarpino/status/818488954181865473

Despite Shabazz’ good game, the return team errors must be erased if the Steelers hope to hold a Lombardi trophy in the coming weeks.

Onto the specialists, Chris Boswell missed his first extra point attempt on the season, as the swirling winds in the open-end of Heinz Field took his ball somewhere other than between the posts.

Boswell wouldn’t miss any of his other 3 PAT’s, and nailed a 34-yard field goal, his only other attempt, for good measure.

Jordan Berry only punted twice, and didn’t get a chance to kick until 14:21 left in the game.

That’s how good the Steelers offense was on Sunday, but it was another play Berry was involved in that gave us all a good chuckle (and yes, helped pad those stats!)

Prior to this field goal attempt, Roethlisberger called off the special teams unit and did his best to use a hard count to draw Miami’s defense offside. Had the Dolphins fell for it, the penalty would’ve resulted in a first down.

Instead, Big Ben calls a timeout, and Chris Boswell takes the field to try to extend the Steelers lead.

Except, Pittsburgh still recognizes they could draw Miami offside!

Watch the head fake on the hard count by holder Jordan Berry.

The Dolphins are faked out, and the Steelers get a new set of downs, to the delight of Big Ben and company. Three consecutive hand-offs to Le’Veon Bell later, the Steelers are up seven more points.

So now you can see the ups and downs of the special teams play in this game. The field position battle wasn’t much of a “battle” since the Steelers had already won the war. However, with a dangerous returner in this weekend’s upcoming game against the Chiefs, Tyreek Hill, Pittsburgh will have to limit any errors in the return game, including their own.

With Toussaint currently in the concussion protocol, and his availability in question against KC, the Steelers may turn back to Cobi Hamilton, who dabbled as a returner a handful of times this season. Eli Rogers and Demarcus Ayers are players who have fielded punts in place of AB, and haven’t returned kicks at the NFL level, but could be tested as alternatives alongside Sammie Coates as well.

Regardless, it appears the punting game, field goal attempts, and even the occasional “surprise” (hard count on the field goal attempt) shows how important special teams is to winning football games.