Steelers trying out kickers
PITTSBURGH – Josh Scobee stood at his locker taking all questions from reporters.
The 12-year NFL veteran didn’t try to hide from what had just occurred at Heinz Field, didn’t duck out of the locker room or divert blame from himself.
After missing a pair of field-goal attempts in the final 2:29 of regulation in the Steelers’ 23-20 overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens Thursday night, all of those things would have been easy to do.
“This is not what I envisioned when I got traded here,” the 33-year-old Scobee said. “This wasn’t what I wanted to happen. I expect better from myself and I expect to contribute and not be one of the reasons we lost a game. It’s tough. Fortunately, I’ve been through tough things and it makes you better in the long run.”
Scobee’s misses from 41 and 49 yards opened the door for the Ravens (1-3) to tie the score on a 42-yard Josh Tucker field goal and win it in overtime when Tucker booted a 52-yarder.
“I feel like I let the team down and it’s not something that I ever want to remember doing,” said Scobee. “It’s a bad feeling. It was a hard-fought game on both sides. I wish I had been able to come through, but it just wasn’t my night.”
Scobee is the Steelers’ third kicker already this season after both Shaun Suisham and Garrett Hartley were lost to season-ending injuries in the preseason. After Hartley was injured, the Steelers (2-2) sent a sixth-round draft pick to Jacksonville to acquire Scobee.
Now, they could be ready to move on.
“We have to turn the stones over,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. “We have to find ways to win games. Obviously, that’s an element of it.”
The Steelers will try out at least two kickers this weekend. According to CNSMidAtlantic.com, former Washington Redskins kicker Kai Forbath will get a tryout, while NFL.com reported the Steelers also will host Chris Boswell.
Forbath was released by the Redskins after making one of two kicks in Week 1. He had been in Washington since 2012, where he played for Steelers special teams coordinator Danny Smith. Forbath has made 60 of 69 career field-goal attempts.
Boswell has been with both the Giants and Texans in the past two seasons but has never appeared in an NFL game.
Scobee, who had made 81 percent of his career kicks coming into this season, is 6 of 10 and has missed a PAT attempt from 33 yards. All four of his field goal misses have come from between 40 and 49 yards, a distance from which Suisham made all 30 of his attempts over the past three seasons.
After Scobee’s two misses in the fourth quarter, Tomlin passed on a potential game-winning 50-yard field goal attempt in overtime.
“I understand the reason not to do that. It was longer than the other ones,” Scobee said. “No hard feelings on my part. It just stinks that I couldn’t convert the other ones.”
Scobee’s misses were big, but so too was the the Steelers’ lack of execution late in the game.
The Steelers took a 20-7 lead early in the third quarter, only to allow the Ravens back in the game with a quick touchdown drive. The defense allowed 191 rushing yards.
The offense failed to take advantage of the defense making two fourth-down stops in the closing minutes of regulation. The second stop came at the Baltimore 29-yard line just before the two-minute warning. Had the Steelers picked up one first down in that situation, then the game would have been over.
“From all aspects of the game, we could have all done something,” said Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons. “We gave up 191 yards rushing. I feel like we could have done something better there. We look at it all across the board. We all could have done something better. It was definitely a team loss.”
One for which Scobee might pay the price.
Wide receiver Martavis Bryant’s four-game suspension for violation of the league drug policy ended Friday. The Steelers have a roster exemption for Bryant until Oct. 13 but he is expected to play in the next game Oct. 12 at San Diego. … Le’Veon Bell had 150 total yards – 129 rushing, 21 receiving. It was the 19th time in his career he has had more than 100 total yards from scrimmage in a game. … The Steelers had five sacks and are on pace for 56 for the season. They had 33 last year.