Because of developments such as Ben Roethlisberger’s return from injury and four rookies making debuts, Monday’s season-opening victory for the Pittsburgh Steelers was in some ways special.
The Steelers’ special teams, though, were not.
“Obviously,” coach Mike Tomlin said during his video news conference Tuesday, “we have some work to do in terms of some of our special teams execution.”
The first live ball on special teams of the Steelers season was muffed by punt returner Diontae Johnson, setting up a first-and-goal for the New York Giants that resulted in a 3-0 lead.
The Giants turn this Diontae Johnson muffed punt into a field goal and take an early lead
— BetOnline.ag (@betonline_ag) September 14, 2020
Giants 3, Steelers 0 #PITvsNYG pic.twitter.com/yVkyfd8FCn
The first extra-point try of the season for Chris Boswell was missed. Boswell’s fifth kickoff of the season went out of bounds, and three punt returns by the Giants’ Jabrill Peppers averaged a robust 13.0 yards.
“I can’t tell you that I anticipated more rust in that area than any other area because we devoted a lot of time to live football in that area and we gave that area of play its just due from a team-development standpoint,” Tomlin said. “That being said, we still have a lot of meat on the bone as we do in the other phases as well and we look forward to getting back out there and getting better at it this week.”
Hey, Steelers Nation, get the latest news about the Pittsburgh Steelers here.
