Steelers’ ‘unacceptable’ kickoff coverage must improve with all-time great returner on tap

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ next opponent, the Atlanta Falcons, rank second in the NFL in kickoff return average.

That’s only because the Steelers were so bad in that area against the Indianapolis Colts on Monday that they leapfrogged the Falcons into the top spot.

Buoyed by an 89-yard return that coach Mike Tomlin acknowledges shifted momentum during Monday night’s game, the Colts (27.5-yard season average) passed the Falcons (26.1-yard average) as the league leaders in returning kicks.

The convergence of facing the league’s best kick returners coinciding with the Steelers’ struggles in kickoff coverage is concerning to Tomlin as his team prepares for Sunday’s game at Atlanta.

“The kickoff coverage was not good (against the Colts),” Tomlin said Tuesday afternoon after the Steelers’ 24-17 victory in Indianapolis a night earlier. “We were missing Miles Boykin and Robert Spillane, but it still is unacceptable, particularly because of where we are going this week and who we are matching up against.”

That would be Cordarrelle Patterson, a veteran regarded as the best kickoff returner of his generation — and perhaps all-time.

Patterson had a 103-yard kickoff return for a touchdown during a win against the Chicago Bears two weeks ago, setting an NFL record for career kickoff-return touchdowns (nine).

“Patterson is the best there is at (kick returns),” Tomlin aid. “So we’ve got some work ahead of us in preparation on a short week to shore up that component of play.”

“Any time I get to kick a ball, I’m happy,” Wright said. “I just go out there, do what I do best and try to put the ball through the uprights, that’s all I can focus on.”https://t.co/BuynCVEnCx

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) November 9, 2022

Statistically, the raw numbers rate the Steelers tied for fourth-worst in the NFL in kick coverage, allowing an average of 26.0 yards per return. All five of the Colts’ kick returns Monday were longer than that, including returns of 45 and 89 yards during the second half.

Patterson’s score is the longest touchdown of the NFL season so far. A 10-year veteran who also has a versatile role in the Atlanta offense, Patterson leads the league in kick return average for any player who has at least eight attempts at 33.5 yards. Over the course of his career, he has kick return touchdowns for four different teams.

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“His résumé, what he has done, man, he needs no endorsement for me,” Tomlin said. “It’s just been nothing short of special and the things that he’s able to do.”

Patterson is approaching 5,000 career yards from scrimmage (2,141 rushing and 2,700 receiving) and has scored 19 touchdowns rushing and 15 receiving in his career. That includes 571 yards and five touchdowns from scrimmage this season — the latter of which leads Atlanta despite Patterson missing four games because of injury.

Tomlin on Tuesday recalled seeing Patterson’s pro day at the University of Tennessee in 2013, marveling at Patterson’s skill set and how he’d scored touchdowns rushing (three), receiving (five) and on punt and kickoff returns (one each) in 2012.

“But to watch those talents evolve over the last decade,” Tomlin said, “and be the dynamic playmaker that he has been as a wide receiver, as a running back — as a starter-capable runner — and as a dynamic return man, I’ve just got a lot of respect for him. And boy, we’ve got to minimize his impact on the game. And that’s no easy task.”

Especially so for the Steelers, just six days after they allowed two returners of far less repute — Dallis Flowers and Isaiah Rodgers — to each torch them for returns of at least 45 yards.

Dallis Flowers kicks off the second half with an 89-yard return.

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— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) November 29, 2022

The performance dropped the Steelers to what the analytics site footballoutsiders.com says is the worst kick return unit in the NFL (via its all encompassing “defense-adjusted value over average” metric). Like they do in raw yardage gained, the Falcons also rank second-best in the NFL in DVOA for kick returns.

An option could be to simply not give Patterson any opportunities — but the Steelers have the second-fewest touchbacks in the NFL, suggesting that with a fill-in kicker in Matthew Wright, they aren’t capable of booting the ball through the back of the end zone.

Instead, they better improve in coverage. What could help is that Boykin (oblique) and Spillane (back), each core special teams players, might return to the lineup.

“We can’t chalk it up solely to players that are available or unavailable,” Tomlin said. “We have to look at all aspects of that unit to shore up that. We can’t lose the field position component of play in the manner that we did.

“Just things to learn and grow from.”

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