Upon Review: Grading the 2023 Steelers Specialists
Steel City Underground presents it’s ‘Upon Review’ series of Pittsburgh Steelers positional group grades for the 2023 NFL season with statistical analysis and performance reviews.
Entering the 2023 NFL season, the Steelers believed they had their guys at placekicker, punter, and long snapper. They filled out their special teams recovery and return teams will players that could give them an edge in that aspect of the game mixed with players under development. As we review this group’s performance, we focus on the key players who had an impact on how well the Steelers performed.
Chris Boswell
The “wizard of Boz” was able to recover from a 2022 injury and step back into a pivotal role among the top placekickers in the league in 2023. Consistency may as well have been his middle name as he was successful on 29-of-31 field goals and 27-of-28 PATs.
Boswell rounded out his career numbers in field goal percentage (87.1) and moved into sixth place on the NFL’s all-time record book.
The kicker successfully kicked 6-of-7 field goals from the 50-yard line or over; his line miss was a 60-yarder. In the history of the franchise no kicker has made more successful field goals at 50 yards and beyond (Boswell has 30 total).
After posting a career-best 55 kickoffs that resulted in touchbacks, it gave Pittsburgh reassurance that he was back in excellent form.
His final grade: A
Pressley Harvin
The big-legged punter struggled with consistency in 2023. In just his third season, Harvin averages 39.1 net yards punting and was ranked among the bottom of all punters in the league.
At the begining of the season, he averaged 46.3 yards per punt and continually slid farther to the 41.6 yards per punt as the season ended.
His final grade: D
As a result of his performance and an injury that sidelined him for two games, the Steelers brought veteran Brad Wing back to the team. Harvin was released in the spring of 2024.
Return game
Underutilized as a receiver, Calvin Austin was the primary punt returner for Pittsburgh. He averaged 8.6 yards on 29 return attempts.
As a unit, the Steelers returners averaged 23.5 yards kickoff return as the team tried different players at the spot with varying results.
Group grade: B-
Opponents gave very little in allowing the Steelers to grab big returns for field position bonuses. This is an area that needs more emphasis, but with the new kickoff rules voted on by the rules committee in early 2024 things could be shaken up even more.
Coverage game
We put long-snapper Christian Kuntz here simply due to the fact that he was a solid piece in 2023 to special teams. While we didn’t grade him separately, he did factor into the overall special teams grade.
The Steelers had some spectacular coverage team plays in 2023. Miles Killebrew proved to be an ace in the hole when it came to creating havoc for opposing punters.
Killebrew is an ace ✨ https://t.co/lctDt4pbNt
— Christina Rivers (@3Rivers_Writer) December 8, 2023
Kilebrew wasn’t alone in nice plays. Just one week before the play shared, Connor Heyward made a nice block that Nick Herbig was able to recover to set up a Steelers touchdown. Officials determined Herbig recovered the ball and was downed, reversing his potential recovery for a touchdown.
https://twitter.com/steelers/status/1736145777162854582?t=HKnx4ByBuXZpkF89w7nZhA&s=19
Patrick Peterson grabbed himself a special teams highlight when he blocked a point-after attempt against the Green Bay Packers.
Final personnel group grade: B
Short of Harvin’s miscues, the Steelers did well under Danny Smith. Yes, there are things to build on, but overall the unit did their best to make an impact on opponents. Pittsburgh added six-year veteran punter Cameron Johnston in free agency as a step in the right direction.
