With Terrible Towels flying and Acrisure Stadium packed to the gills with black and gold, Chris Boswell drilled not one, not two, not three -- I could keep going but I don't need to. For the second time this season and the fourth time in his career, the back-to-back AFC Special Teams Player of the Month hit six field goals and provided the Steelers all the points they would need to unseat the Ravens and the NFL's best offense, 18-16.
Each time the Steelers sent their -- should be All-Pro -- kicker onto the field Sunday afternoon he converted and put three points on the scoreboard. He made one from 27 yards, two from 32, and then three more from 50-plus. His 57-yarder at the beginning of the second half gave the Steelers a five-point lead and his 50-yarder delivered them enough of a lead to seal the win -- after a game-defining stop on a Ravens two-point conversion attempt with just over a minute remaining in the game.
"Boz, man, he's always been one of the best in the game and he showed that again tonight, just how clutch he is in so many crucial moments," Russell Wilson said after the win. "I mean, when you really think about it, championship games, championship moments, they come down to crucial kicks like that a lot and when you got a guy you can trust and know that he's going to have no fear, we believe in him."
This response from Wilson came just moments after he said: "We have the best kicker in the world," which begs the question, is that what the Steelers' heralded kicker has become?
Through 10 games, the 10-year veteran has missed just one kick. He's 29-for-30 and his lone miss came on a 62-yard attempt -- which would've set a new career-long by three yards -- just before halftime against the Chargers in Week 3. To make his case as the "best kicker in the world," just consider these notes:
• He currently leads the league with 107 points.
• He has the best field-goal percentage (96.7%) of kickers who have attempted 20 field goals or more this season.
• His 83% field-goal percentage on attempts from 50-plus yards is the highest since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger (min 40 field-goal attempts of 50+ yards)
• He ranks second in field-goal percentage (88.1%) among kickers with at least 250 field-goal attempts since 2015
• He ranks second in field-goal percentage (92.9%) in the fourth quarter and overtime among all NFL kickers with at least 75 such attempts since 2000.
Need I say more?
But, what may justify his claim the most is who Boswell out-dueled during this game on the North Shore. Justin Tucker has carried the torch for quite some time. His career field-goal percentage of 89.7% coming into Sunday's matchup is the best in NFL history. Boswell is fifth on that list at 87.8%. However, Tucker is in the middle of the worst season of his career. He's missed six of his 22 attempts, including the two he missed against the Steelers on this day. Tucker explained both misses, at length, after the game:
"(On the first one) -- when it came off my foot, I thought it was going to stay on the line in the left 30 uprights, and it just took a left, and then the 50-yarder from the right hash -- I felt like I started the ball pretty much center of the uprights, and then it just took a left," Tucker said. "I made an adjustment in the remaining opportunities that we had in the game, and I made it a point to aim further out to the right side of the center of the uprights. It’s certainly frustrating, especially when we know that these (Ravens-Steelers) games come down to the wire, like this one did today, that I let a couple get away. But, like I’ve said before, the only thing that we can do is just get right back to work and focus on making the most out of our next opportunity.”
Tucker has missed two field goals in a game just four times in his career. It happened last on Dec. 17, 2022, against the Browns, when he missed one and had another blocked. He's never missed more than two in a regular-season game. But, no matter how many he misses, they linger.
"I still remember misses that I had 12 years ago, and I will wake up at night thinking about one that got away," Tucker said. "But that’s just the nature of playing this position -- you have to treat each one like its own kick. So, the first two that I missed today, I was still trying to make it a point to do just that -- treat each kick for what it’s worth."
Boswell echoed those latter sentiments after the game when he was asked if he had any secret trick. I mean, with the success he's had of late you would think there would be some type of secret sauce, right? Nope.
"Just keep kicking. That's it. I don't know. Just take each kick for what it is, don't look at the next one, don't think about the last one and just kinda be where your feet are."
When you look at some of the current great kickers around the league, Harrison Butker and Daniel Carlson could possibly be included in the conversation, as they are two kickers ahead of Boswell on the list I referenced above. But, when it comes down to performing in big moments, converting long field goals and just being consistent, Boswell and Tucker should be at the top of the list, if not 1A and 1B. However, if you ask Boswell, it's not even close.
"That dude is a legend. He's a Hall of Famer," Boswell said of Tucker. "Next thing you know, he'll go on another 100 field-goal streak and everyone will forget about this and we'll move past it."
