Cheat Sheet: An end of season look at special teams

SPECIAL TEAMS

• Pittsburgh's special teams finished second in total special teams DVOA behind only the Lions. Per DVOA, they were first in field goals/extra points, first in punting, ninth in punt returns. Per Pro Football Focus, the Steelers special teams finished 10^th overall when all areas are taken into account.
• The Steelers leaders in special teams snaps (including the playoffs) are as follows: Miles Killebrew and Connor Heyward 318, Payton Wilson and Mark Robinson 316, James Pierre 272, Jeremiah Moon 240, Tyler Matakevich 210, Nick Herbig 193, and Beanie Bishop 183. Pierre missed two games. Moon missed four. Matakevich missed six. Herbig missed four.
• Killebrew and Heyward led the team with kick return team snaps with 87 followed by Wilson and Robinson with 85 and Bishop with 79. The leaders on kickoff coverage were Wilson, Heyward, Killebrew and Robinson along with Chris Boswell with 93, followed by Bishop with 91. Calvin Austin's 70 punt return snaps were the most on the team followed by Wilson, Killebrew and Heyward with 63, Robinson with 62, Damontae Kazee (who missed two games) with 58 and Pierre with 56. As for the punt team, Wilson, Heyward, Robinson, Killebrew, and Christian Kuntz all played 75, followed by Corliss Waitman with 71, Pierre with 62, Herbig with 59 and Matakevich with 54.
• Chris Boswell's 41 field goals made led the NFL. He only missed three kicks all year. He was 13 of 15 from 50 or more yards. Boswell's 158 points led the NFL and was eight more than second-place Brandon Aubrey of the Cowboys and Cameron Dicker of the Chargers.
• The Steelers opponents went 26 of 33 on field goal attempts this season.
• Pittsburgh had a touchback percentage of 54%. Their opponents were at 67%.
• The Steelers returned 25 kicks in 2024. Their opponents returned 40. Pittsburgh's average return was for 23.0 yards compared to 28.9 by their opponents.
• Pittsburgh punted 66 times. Their opponents punted 65 times. Pittsburgh had a net average of 43.3 yards compared to 43.0 by their opponents.
• Austin's 289 punt return yards were sixth-most in the NFL, while his 10.3 yards per return average was 7th in the league among players with at least 10 returns.