Just 24 hours before their show down with the New York Giants at Heinz Field saw Pittsburgh make a worrisome, as the Steelers sign kicker Randy Bullock after hastily adding Chris Boswell to their injury list, citing an abdomen injury.
- To make room for Randy Bullock, the Steelers waived Al-Hajj Shabazz.
The Houston Texans drafted Randy Bullock in the 5th round of the 2012 NFL Draft and Bullock held a roster spot with the team despite not kicking. Bullock returned to kick for the Teaxans during the 2013 and 2014 campaigns, when he made 80.3% of his field goal attempts. During 2013, Bullock was perfect from inside 40 yards, but struggled a bit from that range in 2014.
- During 2015 Bullock, split his time between the Texans and the New York Jets, and again kicked consistently inside of 40 yards.
Bullock did however miss 3 extra points, including two in Houston, which undoubtedly contributed to the Texans decision to part ways with him. Bullock played in the season opener for the New York Giants, where he did not attempt a field goal, but went 2 for 3 on extra points.
Does Steelers Sign Kicker Randy Bullock = “Here go again” for Steelers Nation?
Twitter is wonderful for communicating bite sized bits of information. In 2016 Twitter has almost evolved into Steelers Nation equivalent of the raven for Westeros. And as they say in Westeros, “Dark wings, dark words….”
We have signed K Randy Bullock to our active roster, and released CB Al-Hajj Shabazz.https://t.co/c1pbfUbzaw
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) December 3, 2016
And after reading a Tweet like that, Steelers Nation can be forgiven for issuing a collective “Here we go again” sigh….
Jeff Reed took over from Todd Peterson in mid-2002 and no other kicker’s foot touched the ball until the Steelers dismissed Jeff Reed following the following the 2010 spanking at the hands of the Patriots. The Steelers signed Shaun Suisham, and Shaun Suisham held a monopoly on kicking duties until the NFL Hall of Fame Game.
- The followed the parade of kickers, from Garrett Hartley to Josh Scobee until the Steelers finally settled on Chris Boswell.
While an “abdomen injury” is cause for concern (did Boswell have an appendectomy? We don’t know), the Steelers haven’t put Boswell on IR. Which is good. But the Steelers limited history with emergency place kickers is less encouraging.
