It is with a heavy heart that I give you the following. I will have more to say tomorrow, but for now I’m going to post this and go watch Downton Abbey. As usual I will give you a smattering of Homer’s game notes and his report card.
And I want to second Homer’s comment—I am so proud of this team. Has any team ever gone into a playoff game missing both their starting (or even backup starting) running back and their best wide receiver, with their quarterback hurt, and made a game of it? The Steelers did. This was a game they very plausibly could have won, against the top defense in the league. It’s hard to accept that they lost, but also difficult to do anything but admire them for the way they did it.
Madjack58 put it best….the only thing fully functioning on this team is heart and guts.
The question in our hearts is whether it’s time for the clock to strike midnight, or whether heart and guts and magic dust will keep it all going.
When wide receivers Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown were drafted in 2010 they joined speedy 2009 draftee Mike Wallace on the Steelers roster. The three young men soon became excellent friends as well as good teammates, and dubbed themselves “Young Money.”
For the first time since then none of the Young Money crew will take the field for the Steelers on Sunday night. Mike Wallace is on the Vikings squad which is currently cleaning out their lockers after a heart-breaking loss in the Wild Card game. Emmanuel Sanders will take the field, but as part of the opposition. And Antonio Brown will miss his first game since 2012, courtesy of Vontaze Burfict. As much as this sucks, at least AB got an apology out of Pacman Jones:
But fortunately for the Steelers, Young Money II will be playing in Denver. This is none other than place kicker Chris Boswell.
The Steelers went through a traumatic time early in the 2015 season when they lost veteran kicker Shaun Suisham in a preseason game. It seemed to be a great deal more difficult than one might imagine to find a kicker who was a) available, b) could manage to not injure himself, and c) was able to reliably nail more than 50% of his field goals.
Enter Chris Boswell, stage left. I am will to bet that the only people in Steeler Nation who had heard of Boswell before the Steelers signed him were those who were fans of the Rice Owls, the Rice University team. And maybe not even them, unless they are very keen fans indeed.
After initial worries as to how Boswell would respond to the pressure of kicking in an NFL game (and then the pressure of kicking in an NFL game with the game on the line) Boswell has become someone Steeler Nation has come to depend upon. He may have already won the title of “Most Productive Rookie Kicker in Steelers History.” But whether he has or not, he has established himself firmly in the lore of this most trying and unusual season.
The young man is extremely reliable. He made over 90% of his attempts in the regular season, 100% of his attempts so far in the post season, and all of his attempts over 50 yards. And to look at him, nothing fazes him. Not even being asked to kick a last-ditch field goal in a long and ugly playoff game. As Tribune-Review reporter Chris Adamski noted in an article earlier this week:
Boswell’s knack for the clutch field goal has manifested itself in many ways:
• He is 9 for 9 in the fourth quarter.
• He is 12 for 13 when the game’s margin is within seven points.
• And he is 2 for 2 on field goals that decided a game during the final 90 seconds, including Saturday (14 seconds to play).
That was a 35-yard attempt, but ask Minnesota whether any field goal with a playoff game on the line is a gimme. Vikings veteran Blair Walsh missed Sunday from 27 yards in a one-point game with 22 seconds left.
And it isn’t just a facade. Whether he has ice water in his veins or not, he sure looks like it. He didn’t even give a fist pump after making the winning field goal last week. When asked about his season so far he said, in a Yahoo Sports article from December 18:
”I’m not really worried about what I’ve done so far,” Boswell said. ”You just have to worry about the next one. You can’t think about the last one or worry about what you’ve done in the past. You have to keep it up and stay consistent.”
Craig Wolfley, part of the radio team for the Steelers, mentioned to Boswell that “the Turk up in the booth”—that would be Tunch Ilkin—calls Boswell “Money.” As in, you can bank on the field goal being good. You would think a very young player, on his first NFL roster other than as a camp body, would find this pretty exciting, but according to Wolfley he tipped his head to the side and said “Really?” As in “that’s nice.” So what’s the secret to his imperturbability?
After winning numerous honors during his college career he went undrafted in 2014 (not a big surprise for a kicker) but was picked up by the Texans. He failed to win the job and was cut after camp. The Giants picked him up last summer, cut him, signed him again, and cut him after camp. He was unemployed (at least by an NFL team) until the Steelers came calling, the day after Josh Scobee proved his previous inaccuracy wasn’t a fluke.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler wrote an article shortly after Boswell was signed:
Boswell’s father lived in Brazil before he was born, which meant Boswell played soccer “as soon as I could walk,” around age 3. This taught Boswell the art of placing the ball where he wants it, which helps him now. Boswell was a defender who played in high school but gave up the sport when he got a football scholarship to Rice.
He told Fowler kicking is “90% mental:”
Boswell has worked this offseason with Giants kicker Josh Brown (10-for-10) and Chiefs kicker Cairo Santos (coming off a 7-for-7 game against Cincinnati)…Boswell talks with these friends about the mental side of kicking, getting your mind right before each attempt.
“How to go after every kick,” Boswell said. “Each kick stands on its own. You have to have that down before you kick the ball.”
When Jeff Reed was embroiled in his unfortunate final season in Pittsburgh I wrote an article titled“Kickers and the Role of the Psyche in Performance”. Later, when Shaun Suisham had a bad game or two in his second season, I wrote “Place Kicking and Other Head Games.” As you can see, this is a subject which fascinates me, since the same issues plague musicians.
It seems clear that young Mr. Boswell has figured out how to eliminate the distractions and focus on the task at hand. In fact, he is so focused that he was apparently completely unaware of the whole drama occurring on the field after Antonio Brown’s injury, as he was busy at the net getting ready to kick if need be.
Perhaps this singular focus is more necessary to him than to most. He has a lot riding on his shoulders. Jason Mackey of DKonPittsburghSportswrote an article about Boswell in mid-December. In it he explained that Boswell’s father, a pastor in Fort Worth, fell off a ladder and suffered severe brain damage while working at his second job as a house painter:
Doctors haven’t been able to determine exactly what’s wrong. Chris Boswell said his dad, born in 1959, sometimes thinks it’s 1950. His short-term memory is shot. He doesn’t remember being in the hospital, when he was unconscious for two weeks. And he occasionally doesn’t understand that his son kicks for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“It’s hard to explain to somebody like that, who basically went to sleep and woke up two weeks later and has no idea about anything,” Chris Boswell said. “The opportunity with the Steelers definitely came at a good time. If it was last year, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. It was hard on my family. I wanted to be around them. I wanted to be around family. I wanted to clear everything up.”
It’s been tough for Boswell to focus solely on kicking, however. His dad had to resign from his position as pastor at a local church. Though he still does some consulting work on the side, it’s not the same.
As Mackey wrote:
“It’s been tough for Rick and his family,” Baccarini [Boswell’s former high school coach] said. “Chris getting this opportunity and doing what he’s done has been a blessing for them.”
Boswell’s motto on Twitter is “Let go and let God.” From all the evidence, it would seem he understands that there are lots of things bigger than football…
Life got in the way so I never got around to doing a third quarter report on 2015 edition of the Pittsburgh Steelers. With three games still remaining in the regular season as I write it remains to be seen if this will be a story of triumph or tragedy. It remains almost equally possible that this team could appear in the Super Bowl or miss the playoffs entirely. But regardless of the outcome it is likely to go down as a remarkable year. And I think some long term trends that will define the franchise for years to come have been revealed.
Earlier in the year I revealed a premonition that this might be a special year for the Steelers. That seemed like so much wishful thinking in October, but amazingly, in December the potentialities not only remain in place, but is being verified from a number of different quarters. Now that we have most of the body of work for this season under their belts three things stand out about the Steelers.
This was a good win for everyone except, perhaps, Landry Jones. There are at least two major reasons for that which will be examined here. The first has to do with what distinguishes this from all but one other the game played this season.
Ugly but Easy
Would you have preferred a pretty loss? How about a pretty win where everything is in doubt until the last five seconds when someone makes or misses a field goal, for example, while you’re mainlining your anti-depressant/sedative of choice?
This is my way of saying that easy is good regardless of how it’s achieved. Would it have been more honorable if we had vanquished a foe who proved better able to capably defend themselves and their interests? I guess. But what, pray tell, do you believe makes bad teams bad? And there wasn’t any debate over whether the Browns are bad. They did their thing this afternoon, and as I write this there are buses heading toward Cleveland on the Ohio Turnpike with much self-medicating going on, while Browns fans gaze at Lake Erie with covetous eyes. Just jump in, allow yourself to slip beneath the surface and all the pain goes away. To which I say, better them than us. [And to which Rebecca says, Hold on, Clevelanders! There’s always baseball season!]
Sometimes it really sucks to be right. Two terms that appeared in the season midpoint report hung over today’s proceedings like a dark cloud; ‘Injuries’ and ‘snake bitten’. They defined the first half of 2015, and now threaten to define the entire year. The team survived in the sense that it was a victory and records were set, but at what cost? Did we see the season begin to circle the drain this afternoon?
Excitement
Say what you will about Steelers football in 2015, but it is exciting. After nine games there has been only one where there wasn’t a sense of drama in play in the final moments. Unfortunately, there is super hero/action adventure type drama, and then this horror/slasher type drama. And all too often it has been variations on the latter scenario. Today was only atypical in the details—the narrative arch has been similar.
There is, first, the false happy ending. Three players you probably forgot were on the team—Roosevelt Nix (caused fumble), Anthony Chickillo (recovered fumble) and Jesse James (catches touchdown pass), combine to give Pittsburgh its biggest lead of the day. Cue happy flute music.
Among the players there are smiles, high fives and butt slaps all around. In the stands little Steelers Nation cherubs frolic with their parents and siblings under golden sunlight and a clear blue sky. I swear you can hear the birds chirping and you know that somewhere, wrapped in a Terrible Towel, Cam Heyward’s newborn son is smiling. And then…
“Who is that lurking in the shadows?”
Confusion as the sound of a chain saw starting fills the air.
This is the elephant in the room, not only for the Pittsburgh Steelers this season, but for the NFL always. Whenever I engage in projecting what the team is capable of doing going forward, there is always the nod to humility, the ‘Lord willing, knock-on-wood’ homage to the fact of injuries rendering our hopes and dreams, plans, preparations and predictions null and void.
We have been carefully conditioned to demure when this pachyderm starts stomping around the room breaking furniture. It is considered cowardly and unseemly to speak of such things. Wimpy excuse making, right? If you are in anyway connected to the game as a player, coach, team official or ‘partner’ what else are you going to say? Clearly they don’t have a clue as how the injuries could be prevented or minimized. They’ve been trying. Bobby Mitchell, retired from the Washington franchise, was once quoted as saying that observing from the sidelines, he is surprised that the players are able to get up after every play, the level of violence being that intense. Continue reading “At The Half: The 2015 Pittsburgh Steelers”
Once again we are Hombre-less, and Ivan, Steeler Fever and I have attempted to fill his very large shoes.
(1) Fever asks: We are at the halfway point of the 2015 NFL season and our Pittsburgh Steelers stand at 4-4 coming off consecutive losses at Kansas City and home against the Cincinnati Bengals. How do you think they will end this season? Please state how you see the Steelers regular season record playing out and how far you believe they will advance in the playoffs, if you see the team making the playoffs at all.
(2) Landry Jones has been viewed as a total bust essentially since the pick was announced in April of 2013. Yet he had a very impressive college career. His draft profile noted he is a “prototypical NFL pocket passer with NFL size,” and lots of other nice things. Continue reading “5 Smoldering Questions On the Pittsburgh Steelers, Week 8”
Homer J. gives his thoughts on yesterday’s glorious victory,
If you were to put this game to music, the tune would certainly be the Lieber and Stoller 1959 hit “Along Came Jones,” a novelty tune about a western movie or serial in which a cowboy named Jones came in and rescued the heroine who had been tied to the railroad track, thereby saving the day.
I had a dress rehearsal last evening, and I don’t have cable, so I had to head out after rehearsal to a local hostelry, where I got a refreshing drink, (club soda and lime, sorry, I’m a wuss,) ordered dinner, and waited to see what would happen. I got to the bar just after the beginning of half time, and from the score at that point (3-7, Chargers) it looked as if I hadn’t missed much.
The patrons surrounding me were a tad on the morose side by the time the third quarter began, having come (correctly) to the conclusion the Steelers couldn’t get a ball in the end zone. All Bell All the Time is great for a while, but eventually you have to convince the other team that you are actually capable of completing more than the (very) occasional pass.
But the defense, who I assumed must have been playing very well indeed to have held the Chargers to a single touchdown, soon took matters into their own hands—or, more precisely, the football. Jarvis Jones, who ended the game with four tackles and a sack, also forced a fumble which was recovered by one of our other “busts,” Shamarko Thomas. Continue reading “Game Recap: Turbo-Charged Defense Pulls Out a Win for the Steelers”
Week 5 finds the Pittsburgh Steelers exactly where they were a year ago at 2-2 after a heartbreaking overtime loss the Baltimore Ravens. The Steelers have had ample time for catharsis and commiseration as they prepare to play the San Diego Chargers, but before focusing on the impending Monday Night Football matchup, Steelers Nation must first struggled with these 5 Smoldering Questions on the Steelers.
by Homer J.
Homer J. gives his thoughts on yesterday’s glorious victory,
Week 5 finds the Pittsburgh Steelers exactly where they were a year ago at 2-2 after a 
Going Deep: 