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Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin spoke about change a lot in his Tuesday press conference, and one area which could have experienced change was at the kicker position. Coming off a game where Chris Boswell missed both field goals, one being for the game-tying score, and had to bank one extra point in off the right upright, Tomlin decided enough was enough.
Time for some competition.
This week the Steelers hosted both Kai Forbath and Matt McCrane for an open try-out with Boswell, and despite rumors of the team being impressed by Forbath they have decided to stick with Boswell as their placekicker.
This from Missi Matthews, team reporter for Steelers.com:
Coach Tomlin on Boswell: “We were comfortable with what we saw from Boz. So he needed a little something and it’s good for him. It created a little adversity.”
— Missi Matthews (@missi_matthews) December 14, 2018
We’ll have more from Coach Tomlin on #SteelersLive at 4pm!
The Steelers didn’t have much of a choice with Forbath, considering he was recently signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars, but they did make a change among their kicking units. No, they didn’t add a new kicker, but a kicking coach. The team brought in former kicker Shaun Suisham to help Boswell get through this rough patch.
Will Suisham stay on permanently as a kicking coach? That has yet to be seen, but the extra help certainly can’t hurt when Boswell has gone from a Pro Bowler in 2017, to someone who might be unemployed in 2018.
The Steelers believe in Boswell, and a large contract is one reason why, but it seems they will live and die with Boswell as the helm for at least Week 15. Let’s just hope the Steelers live, more than die, with Boswell moving forward.