T.J. Watt was voted the Steelers' MVP earlier this week by his teammates. And for good reason.

But nobody would have batted an eye had the team voted for placekicker Chris Boswell to win the award.

Boswell has posted a league-best 153 points through the first 16 games, breaking his own team record of 142 set in 2017 when he led the NFL. His point total is the 12th-most in NFL history behind David Akers' NFL record of 166 set in 2011.

His 40 made field goals this season also broke his own team record of 36 set in 2021 and are second-most in NFL history behind Akers' 44 in that 2011 season.

"I'm more aware of it because everyone else is talking about it," Boswell said of those records. "That has nothing to do with us getting a win this weekend or not. If we need four, cool. If we need zero and still win, I'm perfectly fine with that, too."

Boswell also set team records for most field goals over 50 yards in team history with 12 and twice kicked six field goals in a single game to account for all of the Steelers' points in wins over the Falcons and Ravens. Boswell is the only kicker in NFL history to have six field goals in a game twice and has a record three-such games in his career.

Overall, he's missed just three attempts this season, those coming from 62 and 58 yards, while a third attempt was blocked because of a missed block.

Boswell and Steelers special teams coordinator Danny Smith developed a plan this season where Boswell does not kick at all when the Steelers hold their final practice of the week.

"I wouldn't say saved my leg," Boswell said. "Obviously, we changed it this year and I'm having a good year, so it's easy to correlate the two. I don't know if that plays a part in it or takes away from it. It's just a new schedule that we talked about around the league with guys and what they do. It was different from what I've done. I feel good."

The new schedule has paid off with Boswell having his best season, and arguably, the best season for a kicker in NFL history. While Boswell has missed just three kicks this season, Akers missed eight field goal attempts in his record-breaking season.

Anderson made all 35 of his field goal attempts for the Vikings in 1998 when he set the then-NFL record with 164 points, but just two of his attempts were from 50 yards or longer.

Boswell, meanwhile, has made 12 of 14 kicks from beyond 50 yards this season and is 33 of 39 from 50 yards and beyond over the past four seasons.

Boswell is the NFL's all-time leader in field goal percentage from 50 or more yards among players with at least 50 or more attempts, having made 42 of his 51 long-distance attempts.

"I love the trust. I've got to do my job and keep making them to build that trust," Boswell said of Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin's propensity to have him attempt more long field gals. "I've done a decent job of that this year. But it's on to the next one and we'll figure that out next week.

"We don't talk about distance. We don't talk about anything. If he calls field goal, I go out and kick it. If he doesn't and we punt or we go for it, that's good too. That's kind of been our relationship. We don't talk about anything other than what we need to talk about on game day. If it's field goal, I kick it. That's literally the extent that I think about it."

Boswell, 33, has been with the Steelers since 2015 when he won a tryout to replace injured Shaun Suisham and has been the Steelers' placekicker since.

He's made 87.987 percent of his career field goals, including 93 percent this season. His percentage is fourth-best in NFL history, slightly behind all-time leader Justin Tucker of the Ravens (89.103 percent).

He also excels in shorter kicks. Over the past two seasons, Boswell has made all 18 of his attempts between 20 and 29 yards – where he's never missed in 79 career attempts – and is 19 of 19 between 30 and 39 yards.

"He's a unique weapon, for sure," said Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.

Boswell is currently second in team history with 1,122 points, second only to Anderson's 1,343, a total he could surpass in the next two seasons.

But he doesn't look past his next kick, let alone his next season.

"I do pay too much mind. Just because I've been decent this year doesn't mean anything going into next year," Boswell said. "I've just got to do my best on the next kick and then we go after that. I don't really focus too much on future or past, get too high or too low. I just kind of swing away."

• Mark Twain is credited with the saying that there are "lies, damn lies and statistics." And Twain didn't live in today's age where sports are broken down into statistics on a constant basis.

Every NFL team employs an analytics department. And while some lean on that information more than others, they all utilize the information available to make decisions.

However, to Twain's point, sometimes the statistics don't give a true sense of what happened or has been happening.

For example, NFL NextGen Stats show that Watt did not record a single "pressure" in the Steelers' 29-10 loss to the Chiefs last week, while Alex Highsmith had two.

As a team, the Steelers had a "pressure rate" of just 17.9 percent and failed to sack Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes once.

Those are the statistics.

But a closer look at things shows that Mahomes' average time to pass in the game was 2.34 seconds, his fastest of the season. And that included some throws on which the Chiefs went to maximum protection and he held the ball a little longer. Most of his throws were coming out in well under 2.34 seconds.

Usain Bolt wouldn't have gotten to Mahomes unblocked, let alone getting through one or two blockers to do so.

This is nothing new for the Steelers this season, however. Countless opponents have gone to shorter, quicker passes against the Steelers during this season, knowing that they can't or don't want to risk holding up against Pittsburgh's pass rush.

As a result, the Steelers have allowed the most yards in the NFL on passing plays that come out in 2.5 seconds or less at 1,810.

That will be tested this week against the Bengals. Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow leads the NFL in completions (248) and yards (2,234) on passes that come out in under 2.5 seconds this season. He's also thrown 20 touchdown passes in those situations.

In their first meeting, a 44-38 win by the Steelers, Burrow averaged 2.61 seconds per pass attempt. But he was 18 of 24 for 138 yards and an interception on passes within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage – ones that came out quickly – and 10 of 13 for 171 and all three of his touchdowns on passes of 10 or more yards downfield – those that did not necessarily come out fast.

How does that compare to what Mahomes did last week?

Mahomes was 24 of 28 for 220 yards and one touchdown on passes within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage last week, while he attempted just 10 passes beyond 10 yards, completing six of them for 110 yards and two touchdowns.

The key for the Steelers is not just tackling the catch, which they did better in that win over the Bengals, allowing just 5.8 yards per attempt on short completions, compared to 7.9 per attempt against Kansas City, it's winning on first and second downs to force the Bengals into third-and-long.

Quite simply, they can't allow Burrow – or future opponents, in general – to make short, easy rhythm throws. They have to force them into third-and-7 or longer to allow their pass rush to work.

"As a defensive lineman and as a front, we've got to get our hands ready," said Steelers defensive tackle Cam Heyward. "We've got to get some batted balls up in the air. We've got to win the early downs so it's not just rhythm passing. It's a collective effort. I know DBs got a job to do. They have to play press. They have to play zone. They've got to do different things, disguise things, as well.

"But as a front, we can mitigate some of that with stopping the run early so it's not just second-and-5 or third-and-5. Then, we've got to bat the ball up in the air and cause some turnovers."

• The Steelers' current three-game losing streak is obviously concerning.

But if you look at who the losses came to – at Philadelphia and Baltimore and at home against the Chiefs – it's not all that shocking.

After all, those are three of the best teams in the NFL and have a combined record of 39-9 going into the final week of the regular season.

The Steelers also own wins over the Ravens, as well as beating the Chargers, Broncos and Commanders, four teams currently in the playoffs.

But the perception is currently that they're a struggling football team because they happened to lose to three of the top teams in the league in their past three games, two of which were on the road.

Meanwhile, the Bengals are considered a team "nobody wants to play" because they've won their past four games since losing to the Steelers. But in addition to the Steelers they also have lost to the Ravens (twice), Eagles, Chiefs, Commanders and Chargers.

They just haven't lost any of those games in the past four weeks, though the Bengals have had two separate three-game losing streaks this season, including one in which they lost four out of five games to the Eagles, Ravens, Chargers and Steelers, with only a win over the hapless Raiders to show for more than a month of play.

The Bengals are 1-7 against teams currently in the postseason. The Steelers are 4-3 in such games.

The difference is that Cincinnati's games against playoff opponents were scattered throughout the season, while the Steelers have played three consecutive games against playoff-bound teams.

That doesn't mean the Bengals can't beat the Steelers on Saturday. But the perception that the Steelers are a stumbling team and the Bengals are red-hot is, shall we say, showing some recency bias.

The NFL doesn't track records only in the final month of the season. It tracks what you've done the entire season.

The Steelers earned a playoff bid a month ago based on how they have performed over the course of the season.

Losing three games in an 11-day span when they were beset by injuries doesn't change the fact that they've been a good team over the course of the season.

• Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast Pittonline@iheartmedia.com

• The Steelers wound up with four players selected to the Pro Bowl earlier this week, as Heyward, Watt, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and Boswell all were named starters on the AFC team.

The fact that Fitzpatrick earned the nod as the starting free safety for the AFC team should answer some questions regarding his overall play to those who have been questioning his effectiveness.

After all, Fitzpatrick did not win the fan vote at free safety in the Pro Bowl voting. That was Amani Hooker of the Tennessee Titans.

That Fitzpatrick still earned the only spot given to a free safety on the team shows that he was an overwhelming winner among voting of coaches and players. And, no offense to the fan voting, they might know a little bit more about who is playing well and who is not since they're the ones that have to game plan and play against a certain player.

Fitzpatrick goes into the Steelers' regular season finale with 93 tackles, an interception, a forced fumble and four pass defenses.

Could his overall numbers be better? Sure. Fitzpatrick, who led the NFL in 2022 with six interceptions, would love to have more turnovers.

"It's a huge honor. It means players, coaches and fans have decided who they want to represent their league. Even though this hasn't been my splashiest year, my best year, I think I still played a lot of good football, and they thought I was good enough to represent the AFC," said Fitzpatrick.

"I've been back in the post and doing my job for the most part. I was surprised (to be picked), but I'm honored."

Fitzpatrick might not have won the fan vote due to his lack of "big-time" turnover numbers. But the fact he obviously won the coach and player vote shows that those who study the game and have to play against him value what he's done.

• In their history, the Steelers are 8-1 at home playing on Saturday since the 1970 NFL merger. Their point differential in those games is plus-149.

That includes a five-game winning streak at home on Saturday games.

The Steelers' last loss in a home game played on a Saturday came in 1987, when they were beaten 19-13 by the Cleveland Browns.

The Steelers also own a 10-1 record in regular season games played in January under Tomlin, the best in the league since the 1970 NFL merger.