Holding aside, Pressley Harvin III seeks more consistency as Steelers punter

What Pressley Harvin III has done with his right foot at the midpoint of his rookie season indicates he is among the bottom third of NFL punters.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, though, place a value on what Harvin can do with his hands, and it is in that job as a holder for which he has received a superlative ranking from coach Mike Tomlin.

“Largely, I’ve been pleased with his performance,” Tomlin said earlier this week. “And I say that because initially your knee-jerk reaction is to think about his performance as a punter. But he’s also a holder, and this guy has been in some really big moments for a young guy from a holding perspective on some 50-yard kicks and game-winners and so forth.

“Our operation there has been flawless.”

Harvin has held the ball for Chris Boswell on two winning kicks during the Steelers’ four-game winning streak that will be on the line Sunday against the Detroit Lions. Where Boswell’s 37-yarder against Seattle came with the score tied in overtime, the 40-yarder Monday night against Chicago happened with 26 seconds left and the Steelers trailing by a point.

Harvin also had the placement when Boswell made 54- and 52-yard field goals earlier in the fourth quarter, which came after the kicker missed his first extra point of the season in the third.

Nervous? Not Harvin.

“It’s the same thing just like in practice, the same thing as a PAT,” Harvin said. “I try to mentally approach it that way. A lot of those plays are more weighty than others, but we practice every single kick as though it’s a game-winning kick. We do that on a practice setting, in warm-ups, and in the game. A PAT could be the winning kick, but you don’t know it until the end of the game. I prepare myself that way.”

With Harvin holding and rookie Christian Kuntz, a Chartiers Valley and Duquesne grad, snapping, Boswell has made 15 of 16 field-goal attempts and 14 of 15 extra points.

“He’s maturing a lot,” said Boswell, who primarily had Jordan Berry serve as his holder since 2015. “We’re all going to mess up. We’re all human. None of us are perfect. We’re going to have mis-hits here and there. We had a couple tonight, both of us. Just to see him bounce back, he doesn’t get fazed. He doesn’t go in the tank and mess up holds. He’s come a long way in a short amount of time that he’s been here.

“I don’t have to think twice about his job as a holder. He’s pretty rock solid.”

It’s in the other part of Harvin’s job description — as a punter — that the Steelers would like to see more solidity. Harvin’s net average of 40.3 yards per punt ranks No. 21 — Berry has a 42.0 average and No. 12 ranking with Minnesota — but he is sixth with 14 punts placed inside the 20.

Harvin’s gross yardage is 26th, and his hang time of 4.22 seconds is tied for No. 22. Where Harvin does lead the NFL is in punts out of bounds, with eight. Some of those were shanks on directional punts that found the sideline.

Against the Bears, Harvin had a 32-yarder sail out of bounds at the Chicago 48. He also put a 39-yard punt into the end zone for a touchback.

“He needs to be a little more consistent,” Tomlin said. “He doesn’t have an opportunity to warm up to it from time to time. That’s just a lesson that needs to be learned, and we’re doing some things from a practice standpoint to aid him in that.”

Although Harvin said he remains confident in his abilities as an NFL punter, he mentioned having a “mental block in my head” that is he trying to overcome.

“The more I do it in practice,” he said, “the better I’ll get.”

Harvin said it’s not uncommon for Tomlin to stand behind him during punt periods and chirp in his ear with words of encouragement or motivation.

“He’s right behind me every single rep telling me, ‘You have to produce for the team,’ ” Harvin said. “It’s small stuff like that that people might not understand what he’s saying. In my head, to me, he’s telling me I have to do my job. But not only that, he believes I can do my job.”