Saturday night’s Wildcard game will see AFC North rivals, the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers, play each other for the third time this season. Chris Boswell did not practice ahead of the much-anticipated clash.
The Steelers are coming off a loss against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 18 and four consecutive losses, while the Ravens clinched the AFC North with a win over the Cleveland Browns. Let’s examine what happened to the Steelers kicker and whether he will be available on Saturday.
What Happened to Chris Boswell?
Boswell watched from the sidelines during this week’s practice due to illness. The kicker revealed that he is struggling with the flu following a loss against the Bengals in Week 18. He bagged three pass breakups during the season finale.
The veteran kicker was added to the injury report on Wednesday and did not participate in practice on Thursday. He is expected to play Saturday despite missing time this week due to an illness. He doesn’t have a game designation.
With Matthew Wright finishing the season on the Tennessee Titans’ practice squad after starting with the Steelers in training camp, Pittsburgh does not have a backup kicker.
The kicking hell known as Acrisure Stadium was no match for Chris Boswell in 2024. The Steelers kicker propped up a shaky offense with a league-high 41 field goals, hitting 94% of his field-goal attempts.
That included an excellent 13 of 15 (87%) showing from 50 yards or longer. The 33-year-old earned AP All-Pro first-team honors on Friday.
Defensive tackle Cameron Hayward was also absent from practice on Tuesday and Wednesday but was a full participant on Thursday. The Steelers would like to have their stars suit up against the arch-rivals if they want to make a run to the Super Bowl.
Steelers vs. Ravens Preview
- Location: Baltimore, M&T Bank Stadium
- Time: 8 p.m. ET
- Streaming: Amazon Prime Video
Lamar Jackson has played five playoff games since the QB+ metric began its tracking in 2019 (his rookie season in 2018 predates the metric’s inception). In those playoff appearances, he has never posted a single-game grade higher than 80.1 (B-).
Jackson faces a tough challenge in the Steelers. In six career starts against Pittsburgh, he has never achieved a grade better than a C+. This includes his two matchups with the Steelers this season and his two lowest-graded performances of the year.
Jackson struggled significantly against the Steelers’ pass rush in their two matchups this season. He faced his highest and fifth-highest pressure rates of the year in those games, and his production under pressure plummeted, falling off a cliff compared to his typical dominance.
A key factor in Russell Wilson’s surprising early success as the Steelers’ starting quarterback was his deep ball proficiency. However, that strength has disappeared during the team’s four-game losing streak.
Since Week 15, Wilson has failed to throw a touchdown on passes traveling 15+ air yards, a stark contrast to the seven deep-ball touchdowns he recorded in his first seven starts.
The Ravens were vulnerable to the deep ball early in the season, but they’ve significantly improved since moving Kyle Hamilton to safety full-time in Week 11.
Since then, Baltimore ranks second in the NFL in completion percentage allowed on passes of 15+ yards (31.8%). For comparison, from Weeks 1-10, the Ravens ranked 29th in this category, allowing a 54.9% completion rate.