The Terrible Take - Episode 1264 - August 19, 2024

welcome to the terrible take daily segment telling Steelers Nation what's on our mind I'm Ross mccorkel there weren't a ton of positives to write home about in the Steelers second preseason game against the Buffalo Bills on Saturday night but one major positive and more important than most will give it credit for the Steelers have found their punter they signed Cameron Johnston in free agency after letting Presley Harvin the third go Mike Tomlin later described him as the bell of the ball in terms of free agent punters that were on the market his preseason debut was decent but nothing that great the second game showed us the potential and how important having a reliable strong legged punter is the game was 9 to3 every Drive following a Steelers punt was a Bill's punt a big part of that was Johnston averaging 56.8 yards per punt if that was the regular season that would be a franchise record hat tip to Alex kazora for that stat it was obvious to anyone watching how big of an asset he was if that single game average held up over the course of a season Johnson would have led the league last year in yards per Punt and by a pretty good margin he booted three for over 60 yards including a 65 Y no touchbacks and two punts pinned inside the 20 even better he placed the long punt in the corner to limit return options for the other team the bills return man nearly ran himself into a safety trying to escape the corner that Johnston placed him in the Steelers were crushed in the field position battle last season despite that the defense L up the sixth Fest points per game in the league the extra 10 to 15 yards of field position that opposing teams have to deal with under John them will help limit scores even further just think a team starts at the 35 after a punt with Presley Harvard the third last year they only have to go about 27 28 yards to be within reasonable field goal range for strong kickers in today's League that extra 10 to 15 yards gives the defense more chances to shut a drive down before they enter scoring range and in turn winning the field position battle the offense will get better starting field position too he was one of the great underrated signings of the off season his potential impact cannot be understated be sure to follow us at Steelers depot.com and check out episodes of the terrible take every day at 5:00 p.m. eastern time and check out the terrible podcast with Dave Bryan and Alex kazora every Monday Wednesday and Friday