The Steelers have hired Danny Smith to be their special teams coach for the 2013 season. Smith, 59, is from Pittsburgh and was the Redskins special teams coach for the past nine seasons.

Smith is replacing Amos Jones, who was promoted to special teams coordinator in 2012 after Al Everest was fired just prior to the start of the season.

However, Jones recently departed to fill the same capacity with the Arizona Cardinals as part of Bruce Arians’ new coaching staff.

Smith will be overseeing a unit in Pittsburgh that didn’t see many break-downs in coverage in 2012, only allowing one punt return for a touchdown–a 63 yard return by Jacoby Jones in a 13-10 loss to the eventual AFC Champion Ravens in Week 11–but didn’t get much in the way of returns from the likes of Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders and the recently departed Chris Rainey as the unit failed to score a touchdown of its own in ’12 and had several big returns called back because of penalties.

On the other hand, placekicker Shaun Suisham enjoyed a career year, going 28-31 on field goals, with two of his misses being from 50+ yards away.

Thanks for visiting. Click here to check out the rest of Steel Curtain Rising. Or… Follow @SteelCurtainRis