The Pittsburgh Steelers have had an up-and-down start to the Mike McCarthy era. The team is 2-2 after four weeks of play and has already played two games within the AFC North. The good news is that a lot of franchises in the AFC as a whole have started out relatively average. This means that the playoff picture is still very much wide open. There will have to be some adjustments made in the Steel City, however. Consistency has been a bit of an issue, and injuries have certainly affected the staff's desire to have the best players out there on game days.
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Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike McCarthy stands on the field and looks into the distance with his play sheet in hand as the team works out during a 2026 training camp practice at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA.
The Steelers' offense has had both good and bad moments; and, the defense has looked a little more consistent overall. In football, though, there are three phases to the game. Special teams is a critical piece of the puzzle if a coach wants to get into the postseason. For starters, Chris Boswell has not had a very strong stretch to the year. This is beginning to cause some serious concern.
When McCarthy was hired, many of the members of the 2025 staff were not asked to return. Special teams coach Danny Smith was one of those people. The corresponding move was bringing in Danny Crossman, who has over two decades of experience in the NFL. Unfortunately, it hasn't been very positive for his unit through the first month of the campaign.
Smith departing and Crossman arriving caught the attention of someone in Ray Fittipaldo's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette chat. A question was asked about the special teams crew and if it looks worse in 2026 compared to years past. The beat writer gave a little bit of a nod to Smith, while admitting that Crossman isn't inspiring any confidence just yet.
"We have chatters clamoring for the days of Danny Smith! How soon we forget. Smith was blamed for a myriad of special teams gaffes [over] the years," Fittipaldo wrote. "In the end, I thought he was a good coach. We'll see if Crossman is as good. He's not off to a great start, but maybe it does have something to do with his personnel."
The blame from Fittipaldo was sort of deferred. Something is off with Crossman's group. That might not be at the fault of the coach, though. The front office could have skipped over this area of the game a little too much during the offseason's roster development period. Letting someone like Miles Killebrew walk is just the first decision that comes to mind when looking at the loss of talent. The kick and punt return games have been pretty poor, as have the coverage units.
Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman looks over to some of his players in the distance while the team practices in the 2026 offseason at the UPMC Sports Complex.
The Steelers are 19th in total kick return yards allowed, which comes in at the bottom half of the league. On the punting side, Pittsburgh is the sixth worst in terms of return yards allowed. A lot of the issues on special teams can be corrected at practice, but the collective really needs to watch the tape and make adjustments. This is where Crossman comes in. So far, it's very clear that he hasn't made a very good impression.
On the positive side, punter Cameron Johnston is averaging just shy of 50 yards per boot, which lands him in the league's top seven. With long punts, however, comes the potential for big returns. This has been the case so far. The change may be kicking the ball further away from the opposing return man, or increasing hang time while sacrificing distance. Altogether, almost every single facet of special teams needs to improve.
Steelers Know Exactly How Much Special Teams Units Matter
Boswell's missed kick in Week 4 is arguably one of the reasons why Pittsburgh wasn't able to at least get a chance in overtime. Additionally, a muffed punt for the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 3 helped the Steelers to swing momentum and win the game. The NFL is not just about offense and defense. Crossman hasn't received too much criticism just yet, but it will begin to all come down on him if inconsistencies continue to pile up.
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