Every week for 16 — now, 17 — weeks, Pittsburgh Steelers special teams coach Danny Smith pores over opponents film of dozens of punts, kickoffs and placekicks. He’s hoping to find a vulnerability in a protection or coverage team that can give the Steelers an advantage.
The payoffs are rare for Smith and the rest of his fellow special teams coaches. Even the best-laid plans combined with precise execution won’t necessarily result in the coveted “splash” play in a league where a team blocks a punt, on average, less than once every two seasons.
So when it does happen, you celebrate.
“I don’t think it set in for me until when I got to the sideline and sat down and saw all the guys excited and teammates coming around me,” Ulysees Gilbert III said Monday, a day after his scoop-and-score of a blocked punt was a pivotal play in a 23-16 win at the Buffalo Bills. “Making a play like that is just amazing to me. It’s something I’ll remember forever, not only because the game was so big but because I was playing with my brothers. It felt amazing.”
STEELERS BLOCK THE BILLS’ PUNT AND RUN IT IN FOR THE TD
(via @NFL)
pic.twitter.com/5ikCln3Hje— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 12, 2021
Gilbert got credit for the points. But it was the block by Miles Killebrew that made the touchdown possible. Killebrew was the ultimate beneficiary of a well-designed and executed punt-rush attack by Marcus Allen, Buddy Johnson and Killebrew that crossed up the Bills’ interior blockers and sprung Killebrew free.
Killebrew closed so fast on punter Matt Haack that he might have been able to tackle Haack while he still had the ball — something that was not worth the risk with rules in place to protect punters while they are in their kicking motion.
“I’m definitely thinking at that moment that I do not want to hit the punter,” said Killebrew, who had a blocked punt for the Detroit Lions last season and said he had another while at Southern Utah. “That’s definitely the main goal, to stay off the punter.
“Danny Smith, he has us practicing (proper punt-block technique) a lot in practice, to all the way back in the spring. This is something we’re very deliberate about. Those moments do not happen on Sunday without a lot of practice up to the game.”
Steelers blocked punt. Matakevich (44) pushes No. 28 off to LS Ferguson so he can block the looping LB (27). But Ferguson has No. 45 crossing his face, so he’s blocking him. Bills J. Johnson (46) also steps up to block oncoming traffic of 45 and 27, leaving 28 free for the block. pic.twitter.com/s0dOiRsDMU
— Sal Capaccio ???? (@SalSports) September 13, 2021
The play made amends for a Steelers special-teams unit that began its season poorly when the opening kickoff Sunday was returned 75 yards by Buffalo’s Isaiah McKenzie. The core members of the unit — Allen, Killebrew, Gilbert and special-teams captain Derek Watt among them — vowed at halftime to “get back” the three points they essentially spotted the Bills by yielding that prime field position.
“We knew we had to answer with a splash,” Killebrew said. “We had to just do our jobs. (Answering with a big play) was something that we really wanted.”
Like with all teams, special teams can be an X-factor for the Steelers this season. While it’s difficult to quantify the unit’s cumulative impact because of the myriad manners in which specialists perform, the Steelers were 17th in the 32-team NFL in special teams last season in Pro Football Focus’ subjective grades. Footballoutsiders.com uses a more data-based, quantitative method to measure special teams. It put the Steelers 14th in 2020.
Using simpler statistics, in 2020 the Steelers ranked fifth in the NFL in kick returns, 12th in punt returns, fourth in field-goal percentage, 24th in punt return yardage allowed, 22nd in net punting yardage and 15th in kickoff return yardage allowed.
For what it’s worth, through Sunday’s Week 1 games, the Steelers were third in PFF’s grades on special teams.
With an offense that has so many question marks, quality play from the specialists could be a major boost to the Steelers’ chances in 2021.
“The only way you’re going to get a big play on special teams is if you think you’re going to get it,” Killebrew said. “You have to think that way every single time.”
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Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
