The Pittsburgh Steelers were able to take down the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday in Week 6 by a score of 26-19, and the game was probably much closer than it needed to be. The Steelers were taking on an undrafted rookie free agent at quarterback and the team somehow allowed the game to get to overtime, and even worse, Pittsburgh found itself down two scores entering the fourth quarter of the contest. Ugly wins happen in the NFL, but at this point in the season, fans get worried to see a team struggle so much against an inferior opponent.
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Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Chris Boswell (9) looks on after kicking a field goal during the fourth quarter in a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium in 2026.
Kicker Chris Boswell was relied upon heavily in the win over Tampa Bay, which has been the case in a lot of wins for Pittsburgh over the last decade or so. He made four field goals and two extra points on the day, and he also missed a field goal early on in the game. He hasn't been having a great season, which follows along with a trend throughout his career where the season after he signs an extension, he usually has a down year. Regardless, Boswell made up for his miss by scoring 14 points throughout the rest of the contest, and he also became the franchise's all-time leader in field goals made in the game.
On one of Boswell's field goals, he actually had to make the kick twice. This happened late in the fourth quarter, and it was a 58-yard attempt to tie the game up right around the two minute warning. The clock was running, and the kick was cut off by the game stoppage, so he had to re-kick. Long snapper Christian Kuntz spoke about what happened on a recent episode of The Christian Kuntz Podcast.
"Two 58-yard field goals in a row, that sucked," Kuntz said. "I mean he banged both of them, which was crazy, but to have to re-kick, we were letting the ref have it. He's like, 'Well, I bumped the clock.' We're like, 'Dude, you bumped the play clock, that doesn't do anything for the normal clock for us.' They mis-spotted the ball and then cost us like eight seconds and then re-spotted it. So by the time we snapped it, two-minute warning. We were letting the ref have it."
The prior play to the field goal was a sack, so the clock was running. The referees spotted the ball in the wrong spot, and they recognized their error and fixed it. This wasted time. When officials do this they will bump the play clock back up to give the offense time to snap the ball, which is what happened for the field goal unit. This doesn't do anything for the game clock, and that is how the clock went all the way down to the two-minute warning and interrupted the field goal attempt.
Kim Klement Neitzel / Imagn Images
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy looks on during the third quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium.
This is the second instance that has been told after the game of the officials making a mistake that affected the Steelers when it came to the game clock. Head Coach Mike McCarthy also said he had a miscommunication with the officiating crew about calling a timeout ahead of Tampa Bay's game-tying field goal near the end of regulation.
Steelers Hopefully Have A Confident Chris Boswell Now
Despite the missed field goal earlier in the game, Boswell played a great game. He did a fantastic job of hitting two 58-yard field goals even though only one counted, and Pittsburgh would have lost the game if it weren't for him. Hopefully he has some confidence moving forward as it hasn't been the best year for him, and the Steelers certainly need him to win.
What do you think about the Pittsburgh Steelers' fiasco with the ref in Week 6? Let me know on X, @brogannoey!
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