Pittsburgh Review

Pittsburgh's special teams have concluded the season with notable achievements in various areas. According to DVOA, they ranked second overall, just behind the Lions. They led in field goals/extra points and punting while placing ninth in punt returns. Pro Football Focus ranked them tenth overall when considering all aspects.

The team's leaders in special teams snaps, including playoff games, were Miles Killebrew and Connor Heyward with 318 snaps each. Payton Wilson and Mark Robinson followed closely with 316 snaps. Other contributors included James Pierre (272), Jeremiah Moon (240), Tyler Matakevich (210), Nick Herbig (193), and Beanie Bishop (183). Notably, Pierre missed two games, Moon four, Matakevich six, and Herbig four.

Killebrew and Heyward also led in kick return team snaps with 87 each, followed by Wilson and Robinson with 85 each, and Bishop with 79. On kickoff coverage duty were Wilson, Heyward, Killebrew, Robinson alongside Chris Boswell with 93 snaps each; Bishop had 91. Calvin Austin led the team with 70 punt return snaps. Others involved included Wilson, Killebrew, Heyward (63 each), Robinson (62), Damontae Kazee (58; missed two games), and Pierre (56).

In terms of the punt team involvement: Wilson, Heyward, Robinson, Killebrew, and Christian Kuntz participated in 75 snaps each. Corliss Waitman played 71 snaps; Pierre was involved in 62; Herbig participated in 59; Matakevich was part of 54.

Chris Boswell's performance stood out as he made an NFL-leading 41 field goals while missing only three throughout the year. He succeeded on thirteen out of fifteen attempts from distances beyond fifty yards. His total of 158 points was unmatched league-wide—eight more than Brandon Aubrey of the Cowboys or Cameron Dicker from the Chargers.

Opposing teams against Pittsburgh completed twenty-six out of thirty-three field goal attempts this season.

Pittsburgh achieved a touchback percentage of fifty-four percent compared to sixty-seven percent by their opponents. They returned twenty-five kicks during the year while their opponents returned forty. The average return yardage for Pittsburgh was twenty-three yards per attempt versus twenty-eight point nine yards by their adversaries.

Both Pittsburgh and its opponents recorded similar numbers for punts: sixty-six times for Pittsburgh versus sixty-five times by opponents—with net averages being marginally close at forty-three point three yards for Pittsburgh compared to forty-three yards for others.

Calvin Austin amassed two hundred eighty-nine punt return yards—the sixth highest across NFL players—and averaged ten point three yards per return which placed him seventh among those who managed at least ten returns throughout this past season.