It's been a season of ups and downs thus far for the Steelers' special teams.
Chris Boswell? Fixed, or at least apparently so. He's made all 19 of his kicks this season and is one of just three kickers who are perfect on 10 or more field goal attempts.
Jordan Berry? The punter is averaging a career-high 47.3 yards per kick, more than three yards greater than his career average.
The coverage? It's largely been good, coming in right around league average according to FootballOutsider.com rankings.
Heck, it's even cut way down on penalties, something that was an issue last season when the unit led the league with 26. The Steelers have four special teams penalties in five games, a big turn of events.
So why is the unit ranked just 19th overall -- up from 27th last season -- thus far according to Football Outsiders? That return game, it's just been awful. And it hasn't been about the return men, according to special teams coordinator Danny Smith, especially in Sunday's 26-23 overtime loss to the Ravens, when the Steelers averaged 14 yards on three kickoff returns.
"We’ve got some things we’ve got to fix," Smith told me Thursday. "We missed some blocks. We just did. I’ve got to put them in better situations. It’s a combination of coaching and playing. We’ve got the players to do that and we’ve got the coaches to do that. There will be an improvement. But the speed of the game affects young guys sometimes. They’ve got to learn that. And I’ve got to put them in situations where they can be successful."
Baltimore placekicker Justin Tucker is one of the greatest to play the game. And he showed why in that game, dropping kicks just inside the end zone or inside the 5 on four different occasions with about a 4.5-second hang time. It helped lead to starting field position at the 11, 12 and 15, as Ryan Switzer and Johnny Holton were catching the ball with the Ravens' coverage men already around the 25.
Switzer did have a 13-yard punt return in the game, but the return game was largely a losing proposition. And it's nothing all that new. While Switzer ranked 8th in the NFL last season in punt return average — the first time the Steelers have had a top-10 punt returner since Antonio Brown in 2015 — they haven't had a kickoff return man finish in the top 10 in the league since Chris Rainey did it in 2012.
And the Steelers haven't gotten a punt or kick return touchdown since JuJu Smith-Schuster had one on a kickoff, Dec. 31, 2017 against the Browns. The last punt return for a score came from Brown in 2015.
With the Steelers now down to third-string quarterback Devlin Hodges this week against the Chargers in Los Angeles, the team could use a boost out of its return game.
It certainly needs to be more of a positive factor than it was last week, when one of the reasons Mike Tomlin gave for kicking off to start overtime, despite winning the coin toss, was his team's anemic kick returns.
"Baltimore did a good job with the hang time. He’s a great kicker," Smith told me. "But there were situations I felt we could take advantage of. I went home with that in mind and I looked at it and it was one thing here or one thing there. We’ve got a chance. I try to keep that positive attitude in a meeting with them, show them the mistakes and then go out and correct them."
As for picking up the slack for an offense that has been having some issues of its own, Smith said that's the plan. But it can't be the only focus, though he knows his unit can be a positive contributor.
"You’d like it to be," he told me. "Believe me, offense, defense and special teams, they’ve all got their own issues. I’ve got my own problems, I’m not worried about the third-string quarterback. I’ve got to correct my own issues. But anytime you get to that point, everybody has to pick it up. We talk about next man up. I’ve been in other programs. This team means it. We don’t have a head coach, a GM, assistant coaches who will make excuses. We’ve got a game on Sunday. I don’t give a damn who is out there. My job is to get him ready."
MORE STEELERS
• Keep an eye on what happens Saturday with the Steelers. Or, perhaps more importantly, what doesn't. If the Steelers don't make a move to elevate Paxton Lynch from their practice squad Saturday morning before they fly to Los Angeles, it means Mason Rudolph has been cleared through concussion protocol by an independent neurologist sent in by the league. But it doesn't mean Rudolph will start Sunday night against the Chargers. In this scenario, the Steelers would still give Devlin Hodges his first career start and Rudolph would serve as his backup. Why? Because Hodges will have taken every starter's snap during the week leading up to the game and the Steelers installed a game plan for Hodges. If Lynch is signed off the practice squad Saturday, it means Rudolph likely did not clear the protocol. Rudolph would only play in case of an emergency, but once he's cleared, he's cleared. -- Lolley
• With multiple reports out there that Redskins' owner Daniel Snyder has Mike Tomlin atop his wish list as his next head coach, social media has been abuzz about it. But there are no direct links back to Snyder on that. It's all "someone who knows Snyder well," and things of that nature. That's what will keep the Steelers from filing a tampering charge against Snyder and the Redskins. The burden of proof would be on the Steelers to show Snyder is actually the one fueling the reports. Anyone with half a brain can see that is the case -- they didn't arise out of thin air -- but that probably wouldn't be enough for the league to act. -- Lolley
• Smith told me he made a subtle change in how Berry drops the football on his kicks that has led to the punter being more consistent this season. "It just involved in the drop, staying tight and laying it out there," Smith said. "We made an adjustment with that and he’s hitting a good ball right now." Berry said his increased average also is because the offense has been struggling some. One of the NFL's best at downing kicks inside the 20, Berry had dropped seven of 22 kicks inside the opposing 20, but where he's been kicking those has been different. "We haven’t had as many around the 50," he told me. "If you look back at my rookie year, about half the punts were around the 50, so I was kicking to inside the 20." -- Lolley
PENGUINS
• John Marino looks to be the kind of promising young defenseman every NHL team would like to clone. And give his parents credit — they tried: It turns out Marino has a twin brother, Paul. Alas, they are fraternal, not identical, twins and Paul is limited to playing club hockey at Harvard, where his brother spent the past three seasons. "It's not as competitive," John Marino said. "But he has fun with it." And his brother, a Statistics major, just might have a future in the game. He's already got an internship in the Los Angeles Kings' analytics department on his resume. "I think he wants to do something along those lines," John Marino said. "Maybe one day become a GM. I think that's his final goal." John Marino, by the way, plans to continue pursuing a Psychology degree from Harvard during the offseason. -- Dave Molinari at PPG Paints Arena
• Marino, whose rights were acquired from Edmonton for a sixth-round draft choice this summer, has been on the Penguins' major-league roster since the season began Oct. 3. But just barely. They actually assigned him to their farm team in Wilkes-Barre a day before the regular season started, but recalled him less than 24 hours later. The moves had nothing to do with their assessment of Marino or his considerable potential; rather they were part of a carefully choreographed series of transactions intended to help the Penguins become compliant with both the 23-man roster limit and the league's salary-cap ceiling. Unfortunately for Marino, an NHL regulation that compels players to report to the minor-league city to which they've been assigned -- even if their return is planned for the next day -- meant he had to drive to the northeast corner of the Commonwealth, spend a night in a hotel there, then turn around and retrace his steps to PPG Paints Arena. Jim Rutherford confirmed that players sent to the minors must show up there "within a reasonable period of time," but said he does not know how the league enforces it. (Like, say, requiring teams to submit a hotel or restaurant receipt.) The logic, if any, behind such a rule is a separate issue. -- Molinari
• The Penguins left a lot of valuable points on the table during the homestand that ended Thursday night, and playing their first four games of 2019-20 at PPG Paints Arena did not give them the boost Patric Hornqvist had been hoping for, if not downright expecting, as the season got underway. "Getting off to a good start is going to be key for every team this year because there are so many good teams, and a lot of teams can compete," he said. "The points mean exactly the same here in October as they do in April, so make sure you stack 'em up." The Penguins didn't. Perhaps, at least in part, because of the spate of injuries that sidelined several top-nine forwards, including Hornqvist. He missed the final 2 1/2 periods of their 4-1 loss to Winnipeg Tuesday after being hurt by a Kris Letang shot. -- Molinari
• Sidney Crosby has pretty much done it all since he entered the NHL in 2005. He's won Stanley Cups and Olympic gold medals and accumulated enough individual honors and awards to stock a warehouse. Maybe two. He allowed that there is a downside to getting older and having been in the league for so many years, although it's not one that many people might expect. "The only thing is, things aren't as new," Crosby said. "That feeling of going into a new building or playing new opponents consistently, that anticipation, there's something to be said about that. That's fun. That's different." -- Molinari
PIRATES
• "Silence" was the text I got from a source close to the Pirates' front office. This was Thursday morning. And I haven't gotten anything more than that on Bob Nutting and the status of those in upper management he might or might not employ heading into 2020. Sorry, but it wasn't for lack of effort. -- DK
• As for the status of the manager, the next time I hear any mention of any name other than Jeff Banister will be the first. This is why he was brought back into the organization. Exactly this. And Nutting knows him and trusts him. -- DK
• A big-time talent scout I've known forever texted me from the Arizona Fall League about Shane Baz, the other player Neal Huntington handed to the Rays in the Tyler Glasnow/Austin Meadows giveaway. The scout loved Baz's arm -- "electric fastball" -- but cautioned that the accompanying slider is hit-and-miss, that he'll still need to refine his delivery and that he currently projects not as a starter but as a late-inning reliever. -- DK
• I've written this before, but it's repeated here only in an attempt to quash an overwhelming, lingering misperception: Ray Searage didn't have a damned thing to do with that pitch-to-contact nonsense. And he'd tell you that himself. That came straight from Huntington and the front office, and it was applied all through the system. Until it failed, and the plug was pulled more than two years ago. If there are any questions about this, I'll happily take them in comments. -- DK