Whenever the Pittsburgh Steelers play the Cleveland Browns, fans of both teams can expect the games to be fraught with emotion and unpredictability. Even within the confines of one of the greatest rivalries in all of the NFL, those games are sometimes even more bizarre than anyone could predict. One contest that seemed to be spookier than most, as cliché as it may be, was on Halloween of 2021.
Matt Freed / Post-Gazette
The Steelers played the Browns on Halloween night in 2021.
The low-scoring game was tied 3-3 nearing the end of the second quarter when the Steelers attempted to run a fake field goal from the 10-yard line. Pittsburgh's kicker Chris Boswell was hit by Browns defensive tackle Jordan Elliott as he attempted a throw. Boswell ultimately exited the game with a concussion that he sustained from the hit.
After the game was over, Head Coach Mike Tomlin said that he took responsibility for the failure of the play. He thought they had a setup they liked, but he shouldn't have let them run it if he wasn't sure. For their part, the players were worried about how they would get through the rest of this game. In such a low-scoring affair, it is almost a guarantee that the game would come down to field goals. Who would kick them now?
Many assumed that the replacement kicker would be Pressley Harvin III, the Steelers' punter. Harvin has been a bit of a mystery since being drafted in the seventh round by the Steelers in the 2021 NFL Draft. He has had some outstanding performances and then some inexplicably bad ones. Harvin spoke with a former Steelers player about that game and the thought process behind if and when he would need to kick a field goal.
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Pittsburgh Steelers punter Pressley Harvin III is ready to start his third season.
Steelers' Pressley Harvin III Said He Could, In Theory, Kick A Field Goal
Harvin recently joined former Steelers linebacker Arthur Moats on his podcast, The Arthur Moats Show, and was asked about this game by Moats and his co-host Deke.
"Alright, I gotta go back to 2021," asks Deke. "The Browns game where we won it without Boswell in the second half. I gotta know what was going on behind the scenes. Because we didn't kick any field goals or any extra points. How confident were you that you would have been able to make it? What do you know of why we didn't? Was it because Ben [Roethlisberger] would have been the holder and we didn't want to risk like hitting his hand or something?"
This gets a chuckle out of Harvin who claims that Roethlisberger's hand would have definitely been safe, with no broken fingers. He adds that the problem is he doesn't know where the ball would end up.
"I'll be real for a second, the biggest thing about that game, when that happened immediately I got told, 'Do not worry about kicking at all.'"
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Steelers quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, walks off Heinz Field for the final time in his career.
Deke mentions that Harvin did a kickoff and said the biggest worry for him was the field goals. That is just a different kind of kicking. According to Harvin, losing Boswell for the game was bad and the last thing he wanted was to do anything that made it worse. He said there was a moment during the game when he thought he might get called up to help.
"We definitely had one on the two-yard line when Pat [Freiermuth] had that touchdown. I'm on the sideline talking to Cam Sutton because I mean honestly, Cam's a d*mn good holder. I was like, 'Look Cam, we're gonna do this thing if they look at us because I can definitely make that. I got a better shot than anybody else.' But my last field goal attempt from that point was my senior year in high school and that was my only one."
Moats tells Harvin that fans are writing in and saying they don't understand, they are both kicking the ball. Harvin said he heard all of this after the game, kicks are kicks, right? Harvin said they are not even close to the same thing.
"It is not the same thing. If it was the same thing, it would have the same name. The fundamentals are different, with a punt the ball is in my hands, it's never on the ground. As a kicker, the ball is stationary on the ground. With punting, you also have room for error, the margin of error on the punt is way more than on a kick because it's in the air."
Jordon Schofield Photography
Pittsburgh Steelers punter, Pressley Harvin III.
According to Harvin, it isn't just the positioning of the ball that is different. He also says that everything about the mechanics behind it is different. He says while you do have kickers that practice punting and punters that practice kicking, that isn't the norm.
"You hit with a different spot on your foot, your knees and everything are different, you know Boz [Chris Boswell] is leaned off when he is kicking a field goal, but I'm standing straight up and crunched over trying to explode through the ball."
Despite the loss of Boswell that day, the Steelers still managed to defeat their arch-rivals, the Browns, 15-10. They did not kick any extra points on their two second-half touchdowns, instead choosing to attempt two-point conversions, both of which failed.
As for Harvin, he says he doesn't ever want to be in that situation again, but just in case, he has been practicing some field goals and kickoffs. He said that his biggest goal after that game was to at least be able to get it down the field instead of just out of bounds.
Do you remember that game? What did you think would happen when Boswell went down? Did you expect to see Harvin attempting to kick fields? Click to comment below.
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