Welcome to another special teams edition of the Film Room, where the Steelers did more than enough in their dominance of the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, in this third phase of football.

Unlike previous weeks, punter Jordan Berry won’t be mentioned much at all. He had 2 punts on the afternoon, one of which bounced on the rock-hard cold turf for a touchback. (That punt was 56 yards!)

His other punt sailed 45 yards, with no gain on the return.

This week there’s more to be said of the kickoff unit, which saw the return of Chris Boswell (following a game off due to injury). While Boz was a perfect 2-for-2 on field goals, and 3-for-3 on extra points for the day, it was his placement of kicks following scores which set the Steelers defense up for success.

Boswell’s first boot, following Pittsburgh’s first touchdown, lands at Buffalo’s 1-yard line, where returner Brandon Tate was forced to bring the ball out.

We had mentioned many times here at SCU about the new “sky” or “mortar” kick technique to circumvent giving opposing teams the ball on their own 25 following a touchback. Here we see Boswell execute the kick to perfection, while FB Roosevelt Nix shows us how sorely he was missed on the special teams unit, making a stuffing stop which results in Buffalo starting from their own 14.

Boswell and Nix would team up again to start the second half.

This kick lands at Buffalo’s goal line, where Tate once again meets Nix for a measley gain of 16 yards.

Buffalo starts at their 16 on this possession; the Bills would punt several plays later.

However, Boswell wasn’t done!

A 66-yard booming kick in the fourth quarter threatens to pin the Bills deep once again.

Tate is once again the return man, but opts to go away from Nix’ side of the field. He is met short of his goal of getting to at least the 25, tag-teamed by Anthony Chickillo (who blows up his blocker) and Jordan Dangerfield.

Buffalo would start at their own 18. Even though they would score on this drive, consistently putting your opponents in deep field position is analytically proven to be a successful formula for winning football games.

Having the ability to do this from the kickoff team, is yet another vital weapon in the Steelers bid for a seventh Lombardi trophy.

Now, just think if they can get a healthy special teams unit together with Darrius Heyward-Bey and Shamarko Thomas on the field…