When his second-to-last punt of the game Monday night was downed at the Browns’ 6-yard line, Pressley Harvin III let out such a loud celebratory yell that it was picked up by the on-field mics and captured on the ABC broadcast.
Maybe Harvin was seeing the future, considering that field-flipping punt helped set up the connection between Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt for the winning touchdown. Or maybe it was just a lot of adrenaline pumping during a bounce-back game in which Harvin pinned Cleveland inside its own 10 four times, including one to the 5 and another that rolled out of bounds at the 1.
“You could say it’s redemption, but at the same time, I don’t feel like it’s a redemption thing,” Harvin said this week in the locker room. “I think it’s more of me getting back to myself.”
That’s the Georgia Tech punter who won the Ray Guy Award as the best player in college football at his position in 2020, the one the Steelers believed in enough to use a seventh-round pick on in the ensuing draft. Despite what he knows he’s capable of, you don’t have to tell Harvin he had an inauspicious start to his third year as a pro.
Not much went right for the Steelers in their season-opening loss to the 49ers, and the punting game was no different. Harvin had shanks of 34 and 36 yards out of bounds — the first of which gave San Francisco a short field for its first touchdown drive — and a 28-yarder that was fair caught.
Yes, Mike Tomlin called out Harvin at his weekly press conference a couple days later, referring to that component of the blowout as “a significant letdown,” but that’s just talk. The Steelers’ actions were more significant, bringing in their own former punter Brad Wing for a tryout that week, following Wing’s stint in the XFL this year.
“Week 1 was just a little bit of a — I don’t even know how to put it,” Harvin admitted. “It just wasn’t what it needed to be.”
It was particularly disappointing in light of a preseason in which Harvin won a competition against NFL veteran Braden Mann in training camp. This was the team’s surest vote of confidence in him since they gave him the job as a rookie over incumbent Jordan Berry.
But Harvin’s journey has been up and down, to say the least. From a personal standpoint, it’s been well-documented how much he endured off the field his first year, first with the death of his father, followed by the loss of his grandmother in a span of two weeks late in the season.
“He’s definitely been tried by fire,” special teams captain Miles Killebrew said.
For Harvin, consistency has been elusive. There have been moments, such as last year’s win in Atlanta when he pinned the Falcons at their own 2 to snuff out any possibility of a last-minute drive.
That makes it all the more frustrating when he turns around the next game and flubs a punt just 17 yards in a loss to the Ravens. Amid a news cycle in which Steelers fans are chanting for Matt Canada to be fired, while Pitt’s quarterback and head coach are pushing back on being booed, Harvin certainly can relate to the vitriol. One of the tougher tribulations he’s had so far was when the jeers came his way in a December 2021 home game against the Titans, which turned out to be the last time his dad saw him play.
Candidly, Harvin thought back on some of those low points a few days after one of his highest peaks in a Steelers jersey. Not that it’s fun for him to do, but it does put into perspective the life of an NFL player, especially one who’s under the microscope as much as a quarterback or kicker when it’s time for him to do his job. Harvin started by saying “it doesn’t get to me at all” when the crowd gets on him, but ...
“People fail to realize this, but we also do see things. We also do hear things,” Harvin said. “And to be able to have a fan base that sometimes gets [impatient] as soon as something doesn't go our way, it’s kind of aggravating at some points and times.
“Because I'm not going out there to not do well. I'm not going out there to just [expletive] the bed. ‘All right, cool, I'll get out there again.’ That's not the mentality that I have [after a bad punt]. I don't want people to continue to keep thinking that. We all are in this building for a reason.”
Perhaps it’s fair to say Harvin has learned how to tune out the negativity, but that he doesn’t take it lightly when he struggles. It’s a bit easier to explain that excitement Monday night, in a back-and-forth battle against a division rival, a game most assumed would be tight throughout with every yard worth fighting for.
“It’s always great to see, because everybody in this locker room knows his capabilities and how good he really is,” coverage ace Miles Boykin said. “When he goes out there and shows it consistently, we feel like we’re one of the best punt teams.”
Harvin would rather not lead the league in punts with 13 and punt yards with 574, as it speaks to how feeble the Steelers offense has been. He’d prefer to just hold for Chris Boswell extra points all day, but we know that’s not realistic.
Whether the offense keeps him busy or has a break-through, he’ll be needed again at some point. Harvin has finished outside the top 15 in yards per punt and net yards per punt each of his first two seasons, so it’s fair to wonder if mediocrity is his ceiling. One big night could just be another blip on the radar, or that Ric Flair-ish “woo!” will be worth remembering if he finally breaks out.
“Oh, he was fired up,” Killebrew said. “That’s what you want, man. You want someone who’s excited about their craft, and Press is excited about his craft. He’s someone who wants to be better and always wants to improve. It was a good moment for him. I was excited for him.”
As one of the more thankless roles in football, there’s a certain amount of relief a punter can feel when the ball bounces the right way or they thread that needle between the goal line and the 1. But ask Harvin if Monday was a weight off his shoulders and he’ll remind you it’s not that simple.
“That weight’s always gonna be there,” he said. “Somebody else had this job before me, somebody else will have it after me, but while I’m here, I’m trying to make sure I do the most I can to continue to produce and have it as long as possible.
“It’s all pressure. Coach T has the saying, ‘Pressure is forever relevant. You’re either feeling it or applying it.’ I’d rather apply the pressure to other people, but sometimes when you feel it, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
Brian Batko: bbatko@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrianBatko
First Published: September 24, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: September 24, 2023, 11:45 p.m.