Steelers Still Have Special Teams Problems

Special teams have been a problem for the Steelers for years. They were something Mike Tomlin said he was going to fix when he arrived in Pittsburgh, but then the Steelers went out and had a brutal year on special teams.

A year later, half of the problem has been fixed. The Steelers coverage units are now solid--something that hasn't been able to be said in recent years. Unfortunately, the other half of the equation is still brutal.

What do you get when you take a make a 250-pound fullback your primary kick returner? As you would expect, it doesn't turn out well. The good news is Najeh Davenport consistently gets the Steelers out to around the 20-yard-line. The bad news is that his longest kick return of the season is 27 yards, which explains why the Steelers are 30th in the league in kick returns. It shouldn't be much of a surprise, as Davenport is averaging 21.7 yards per return this year which is right in line with his 22.6 yard return average for his career. He's returned one kick longer than 30 yards in the past five years.

But it's not just Davenport who deserves some blame. The punt return unit (which has relied on Mewelde Moore and Santonio Holmes) is tied for worst in the league. Washington, Monday night's opponent, has an 80-yard punt return for a touchdown this year. The Steelers have 81 yards in punt returns for the season. At 4.8 yards per return and a longest return of 17 yards, the Steelers aren't doing a whole lot better than what they would do just by fair catching every punt.

This looks to be an unfixable issue. With the injuries the Steelers have, there really aren't a lot of roster spots to go out and spend one on a young returner with some promise. But once again when free agency and the draft roll around next year, Pittsburgh will be in need of a returner.

If given a choice, I'd much rather see the Steelers cover kicks well than have a great returner, but maybe next year, for a change, the Steelers can have both?