Was the botched Chris Boswell On Sides Kick Poor Play Calling or Poor Execution? Read through and vote at the bottom….

398 days ago it all seemed not only so easy but also so tempting.

On October 6th 2015 the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Chris Boswell as their 4th place kicker in as many months. Pittsburgh was in the middle of a kicking crisis not seen since the Kris Brown – Todd Peterson transition. Mike Tomlin and Danny Smith desperately needed was a kicker they could count on.

• A quick look at Chris Boswell’s NCAA kicking resume suggested that the Steelers might have found just that.

But Boswell teased at offering something more….

Before he botched it in Baltimore, Chris Boswell had nailed the “Side Step” on sides kick at Rice University. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review

….First, his athletic resume was impressive, having not only place kicked but punted for the New York Giants during the previous summer’s training camp. And then there was this tantalizing tidbit of tape the Chris Boswell had left from his days of kicking for Rice University….

Boswell brought a solid resume of splitting the uprights to Pittsburgh and his knack for making side-step on-sides kicks looked to be an added benefit. For all of his reliability as a place kicker, Shaun Suisham for failed to master the art of an on sides kick.

• Would Boswell’s unusual ability someday become the Steelers Ace in the Hole late in a game when they needed one?

We now know that, against the Ravens, the answer to that question was no. But Bill Cowher once said “I’d rather walk off the field saying ‘I wish I hadn’t done that’ as opposed to asking myself, ‘What would have happened if I’d done that?’”

The Case For the “Side-step” Chris Boswell On Sides Kick

The Steelers (latest) loss to the Ravens Baltimore will long be remembered by Chris Boswell’s failed on-sides kick at the tail end.

After all, it was an uncanny play call resulting in an epic fail that graphically symbolizes the downward spiral that Mike Tomlin’s 2016 Steelers are falling into before our very eyes.

• Yet, as first video shows, it wasn’t as crazy as it looked on Sunday afternoon.

Chris Boswell has “Been There and Done” that before. Doing it in the NCAA and pulling it off in the NFL might be different animals, but Boswell does have a track record here. Plus, Boswell had tried a convention on sides kick vs. the Patriots to no avail, so a “business case” so to speak, existed to justify Tomlin and Smith’s gamble.

Or so the thinking goes.

Look at in that light, the failed Chris Boswell onsides kick seems to fall into the category of the defines all unconventional plays:

• A risky play that works is a good call, a risky play that fails is a bad call.

Yes, that sounds hollow here 48 hours after the Steelers 3 straight loss of the season, 4th consecutive loss to the Ravens, and Ben Roethlisberger’s 5 loss in a row in Baltimore. But think about it.

And Boswell nailed it and gotten it right into Artie Burns arms, and had Ben Roethlisberger fired off a sideline pass to Antonio Brown, followed by an end zone hook up with Le’Veon Bell as time expired, Steelers Nation would be erecting statues of Danny Smith.

• So the blame for the failure falls on Boswell, not the play call. Right?

That sounds good, but it isn’t so simple, and I honestly am of two minds on the subject.

The Case Against the “Side Step” Chris Boswell On Sides Kick

There’s a contrary school of thought that places Mike Tomlin and Danny Smith firmly on the hook for this failure. And the logic flows like this:

• You should never try to get cute when you’re either struggling or failing to execute the fundamentals.

While this story dates me, the 1998 Steelers Monday Night Football game vs. the Green Bay Packers provides a perfect example.

The 1998 Steelers offense has struggled to find consistency all season long, but seemed to have FINALLY found a rhythm that night against the Packers. Riding a 27-9 lead with 9:55 left in the 4th quarter, the Steelers reached the goal line and were about to make it 34-9 when Mike Tomczak appeared under center and Kordell Stewart split wide.

• Tomzcak fumbled the ball, Keith McKenzie recovered and returned it 88 yards.

A game that should have ended with a steady diet of handoffs to Jerome Bettis and Richard Huntley running behind Dermontti Dawson and Alan Fancea became a nail-biter as the Brett Favre forced the Steelers to hold on for life, winning 27-20.

The lesson of that incident was clear:  If you’re struggling to execute fundamentally sound football, you shouldn’t be tempting fate with trick plays. And on Sunday, the Steelers special teams most certainly were not playing sound fundamental football.

Ergo, the Mike Tomlin and Danny Smith NEVER should have made the call.

Vote Was the Botched Chris Boswell Onsides Kick a Bad Call or Poor Execution

With that, we leave it to you to decide. Was Chris Boswell’s botched onsides kick a bad call in the first place, or was it a worthy risk that ran awry to poor execution? Vote now:

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Make your voice heard Steelers Nation, and don’t hesitate to defend your vote in the comments section.

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