Did another NFL special teams coach have as challenging a season as the Steelers’ Danny Smith in 2015? Smith watched two place kickers go down with injuries during training camp. The third one he brought in was so bad the Steelers had to cut him after four games. Later in the season, in the span of seven weeks, he cut two kickoff returners because of ineffectiveness. And to top it all off, his first-year punter was wildly inconsistent.
Out of that disaster, however, emerged one young player who helped save the season.
Chris Boswell was the fourth place kicker of the season — after injuries to Shaun Suisham and Garrett Hartley and the release of Josh Scobee — but he ended up being a gem.
The Steelers led the NFL with 35 field goals, fueled mostly by Boswell, who made 29 of his 32 regular-season attempts after taking over the duties five games into the season. Boswell was by far the biggest success story for the Steelers’ special teams.
After Suisham suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first preseason game the Steelers had a hard time finding a replacement. For a short time, Hartley held the job, but he injured a hamstring in the fourth preseason game.
That prompted the team to trade a sixth-round draft choice to Jacksonville to acquire veteran Josh Scobee, who held the job for the first four weeks of the season. He was cut after missing two field goals late in the fourth quarter of an eventual overtime loss to the Ravens.
Then came Boswell, whose strong right leg likely means Suisham’s services no longer will be needed. Not only did Boswell prove to be as accurate as Shuisham, but he has the ability to kick longer field goals and produce touchbacks on kickoffs. He’s also younger and much cheaper.
Boswell proved to be money in the playoffs, too, going 7 for 7, including the winning 35-yard field goal in the waning seconds of the AFC wild-card game in Cincinnati. Postseason included, he was 36 for 39 for an astounding 92.3 accuracy rate.
Unfortunately for the Steelers, first-year punter Jordan Berry wasn’t as consistent.
The Steelers decided to keep Berry over Brad Wing after a spirited competition in training camp. Berry was proficient at pinning opponents inside their 20-yard line, but he was among the worst in the league when it came to average and net average.
Berry had 28 of his 59 punts downed inside the 20. However, when he had to punt from his own end his kicks were often short. He averaged just 42.6 yards per punt (30th) and 39.8 net yards per punt (27th).
Berry’s inexperience hurt the Steelers in the playoffs. With high winds swirling all day in the division round game at Denver, Berry punted six times for a 29.3 average. He had a pair of 27-yard punts and his line-drive 52-yarder in the first quarter allowed a 42-yard return that set up the first score of the game for the Broncos.
The Steelers, however, like Berry’s potential and expect he’ll learn from his rookie mistakes.
“He’s a young kid, an inexperienced kid,” Smith said in November. “He’s got a great leg. There’s some wear and tear, some things occur during the course of a season. He’s doing some things very well and some others not quite so well.
“It’s a maturation process with a young player. I think he’s going to be an excellent player in this league for a long period of time. It’s just a matter of time, him perfecting that muscle memory. It’s a long haul for a young guy. I’m not making excuses for him, but it’s tough. It’s execution under pressure.”
The execution in the kickoff return game wasn’t strong either. Former third-round draft pick Dri Archer was cut in early November and his replacement, Jacoby Jones, was cut in Week 17.
Somehow, the Steelers finished 14th in the league in kickoff return yards (24.2). They only had 29 return attempts, fewer than two per game, which makes investing a third-round choice in Archer in 2014 all the more puzzling.
The Steelers did perform well in some other areas. They were among the top teams in the league at defending kickoffs. They allowed just 22.2 yards per return, which ranked 10th.
All-Pro receiver Antonio Brown continued to return punts for most of the season and recorded his fourth touchdown on a punt return. He finished the season ranked ninth in the NFL with a 9.6 return average.
So how do the Steelers rank when compared to other teams on the whole? That’s a mixed bag, too.
The Dallas Morning News does special teams rankings every season, taking into account all 22 kick-related statistics and does a ranking system based off where teams rank. The Steelers’ composite ranking was sixth.
Football Outsiders, a web site that specializes in statistical analysis, also ranked all 32 teams. They ranked the Steelers 18th.
Ray Fittipaldo: rfittipaldo@post-gazette.com and Twitter @rayfitt1.
First Published: April 24, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
