People tend to tune into football games to watch the high-flying offenses of championship teams. Sometimes, they want to see hard-hitting or acrobatic defenses playing at the highest level. Rarely do people watch for the kickers - those people can just watch soccer, after all. It was impossible to look away from Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Chris Boswell last week, though - if that's the case in the AFC Championship Game, New England Patriots fans can purchase their Super Bowl tickets.
Kick to victory
Outside of Pittsburgh, most NFL fans would've been unable to name the kicker of the Steelers prior to last week.
Boswell was moving towards the upper tier of kickers in the league, but his name didn't ring a bell like Stephen Gostkowski or Sebastian Janikowski. On December 18, he set a career-high with six field goals, which felt fluky at best.
Then, he showed out again during the AFC Divisional Round. As the Steelers offense stalled every time it neared the end zone, Boswell nailed field goal after field goal after field goal. His team won 18-16, with all of the points coming off his foot. It was the first time in NFL history that a kicker hit six field goals in a postseason game.
Not this time
Whether or not Boswell can be the leader of the team in scoring this week may be an irrelevant question: he's one of several members of the Steelers who are battling a bug this week.
It isn't expected to hold him out of play in the AFC Championship Game, but it may render him much less effective.
Still, the Steelers defense was able to hold off the Kansas City Chiefs in a manner they won't be able to repeat against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. The only way for the Steelers to win this game is in a shootout, and they'll need to be scoring touchdowns more than field goals in such a scenario.
Ben Roethlisberger has to keep his cool, Le'Veon Bell has to find the end zone, and Antonio Brown has to trek all over the field. Boswell can hit a game-winner for Pittsburgh, but he can't be responsible for winning the entire game.