The Steelers put their kick-blocking prowess on display repeatedly again last season, and it's a component of the kicking game special teams coordinator Danny Smith is looking forward to relying upon once again in the season ahead.
"I think we'll be pretty good at it," Smith suggested.
Officially, the Steelers were credited with two blocked field goals and a blocked punt in 2024.
The also blocked an extra point on Oct. 20 against the New York Jets that was nullified by a leverage penalty.
Head coach Mike Tomlin subsequently revealed the NFL office, after further review, reported no leverage penalty should have been assessed.
Blocking three or four kicks in an NFL season, or more, is a high standard, to be certain.
To meet it again the Steelers will need to build that aspect of their special teams operation from the ground up moving forward.
But because of their recent success and the "block culture" they've developed the Steelers lead the NFL with six blocked kicks since 2023 and 11 since 2021 they'll also be picking up where they left off, to an extent.
"It's a combination," Smith maintained. "You want to build on it and you expect it, but every year's a new year, it really is. People in this league, they know how to defend better, know how to do this better, know guys. So I gotta do a good job of moving those guys, putting them in good positions and things. It's a culture. It's something that our guys are proud of. It's something that they're pretty damn good at. We keep developing more and more.
"So really it's a combination of both. When we line up against the Jets (in the regular-season opener on Sept. 7), they really don't give a damn how many kicks you blocked last year, so it is new in that sense. But we'll be pretty good at it. We work hard at it. The guys like it. The guys have bought in 100 percent. We gotta develop more guys to do that and the techniques and the things we teach, we're capable of that, so I expect it to continue."
Much will, likewise, be expected from kicker Chris Boswell, who led the NFL in field goals (41), points by a kicker (158) and field goal success rate (93.2 percent, minimum 35 attempts) in 2024.
But there are also areas in which the Steelers can and must be better in the kicking game.
"The biggest thing we need to improve on is field position," Smith insisted. "This is a game of field position. We need better position all over the field.
"I take those as team issues. You want to play good defense? Give 'em good field position. It's hard to drive the ball 90 yards against any defense, and we're pretty good on defense. Same thing on offense, we talk about more points, more points, more points. You wanna score more points? Give 'em better field position. I take those as team issues and I want the special teams unit to take them as team issues.
"You could take, in the special teams game, penalties, turnovers and field position, and you could argue the order of those three things. You put them in any order you want. Field position, penalties and turnovers, if you're gonna be good in those three you're gonna be pretty good. That's where I think we can show improvement and I expect us to do so."
