As a crestfallen Tyler Loop walked off the Acrisure Stadium grass Sunday night, the Baltimore Ravens rookie kicker was approached by Pittsburgh Steelers counterpart Chris Boswell.
The interaction only lasted a few seconds. To Boswell, though, the brief talk was important, if only to provide a small measure of support to Loop, whose missed 44-yard field-goal attempt sent the Steelers into the postseason with a 26-24 victory.
“I’ve been in every situation possible in this league — the good, the bad,” Boswell said Friday. “We fail, and when we fail, it’s in the public eye for everyone to see. I just wanted to run over to him and let him know that a kick is a kick, he’s gonna move past it, and it’s going to better him for the future.”
If Loop’s kick had split the uprights, Boswell would have been the one in need of consoling. A mere 55 seconds of game time earlier, Boswell missed an extra point that left the Steelers holding a two-point lead — and opened the door for a field goal at the other end of field to send the Ravens into the postseason as AFC North champions.
For as automatic as Boswell has been for the Steelers — he led the NFL with 41 field goals and 158 points in 2024 while earning an All-Pro berth — the missed extra point marked the third consecutive game he didn’t successfully convert a kick. A few weeks earlier in Detroit, Boswell hit the right upright with a 37-yard attempt in the fourth quarter that would have provided the Steelers an eight-point lead. Instead, they sweated out a 29-24 victory that ended with the Lions 9 yards from the end zone.
In Week 17, Boswell was wide right on a 54-yard field goal try in Cleveland. Then came the missed extra point against the Ravens. The kick was ruled a block on the official score sheet.
“I’m on the bad end of some kicks right now,” Boswell said. “Eleven years into it, I’m going to be on the bad end of some kicks. That never wavers in the confidence of myself, the snap, the hold, anything. Some go in, some don’t. Obviously, you feel down about the ones who don’t, but you have to move on to the next one.”
As Boswell talked about the missed extra point, defensive captain Cameron Heyward walked past and, loud enough for reporters to hear, said the protection on the field-goal unit needs to improve. Heyward, who is a member of that protection unit, essentially was absolving Boswell of any blame for the tipped extra point that went spiraling wide right.
“We’re going to block our (butts) off and give him the time he deserves,” Heyward said later. “It (stinks) that you put it all on a kicker. We’ve got to block a lot better. Tight ends, tackles, wings — we all have to do our job a little better to make sure he gets the protection he needs.”
In the regular season, Boswell made 27 of 32 attempts, missing twice from inside 40 yards. He hadn’t missed more than one from that distance in any year since 2018 when he had his worst NFL season, going 13 of 20 on field goals and 43 of 48 on extra points.
“I feel like I’m hitting the ball really well,” Boswell said. “Some of them are going in, some of the aren’t. There are definitely some weird kicks that are happening this year. It’s part of the game. Everyone goes through it. Keep going.”
Despite his recent misses, Boswell is second in NFL history (minimum 300 attempts) with an 87.7% accuracy rate on field-goal attempts. Until his arrival in 2015, kickers had converted just four field goals of 50-plus yards in Acrisure Stadium/Heinz Field history. Boswell has made 33, including a 57-yarder in the first half Sunday night against the Ravens. Boswell also has never missed a kick in the postseason, going 17 of 17 in his career, although 15 of those field goals took place on the road.
“I don’t pay too much attention to it,” Boswell said. “I take every kick for what it is. I don’t think about the history of the stadium or anything like that. You need every kick, so I play it like that and move on to the next one.”
Boswell is confident Loop can take the same approach into 2026.
“I talked to him quite a bit when we were in Baltimore a month prior,” Boswell said. “He’s a good dude, a faith-driven dude. I have no reservations about him moving past this and become a better kicker for it.”
