Wright vows to improve
Matthew Wright spent much of Sunday night and part of Monday morning watching the tape. It wasn’t an easy film study, but it could’ve been a lot tougher had the Steelers not imposed their will against the Saints on offense and defense.
“I’m happy we won. That’s the biggest thing,” Wright said Monday in the Steelers locker room, about 12 hours after missing two field goal attempts in a 20-10 victory. “When I had the worst game of my career, it’s nice that we came out with a win anyway. I’ll just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
The unassuming kicker filling in for Chris Boswell vowed to do that by fixing what went wrong on his botched tries from 39 and 48 yards, both of which went wide left. For Wright, it was an adjustment to be back at an NFL venue notorious for wreaking havoc on kickers, and he’d been gone so long that he actually referred to it as Heinz Field instead of Acrisure Stadium.
But he wasn’t about to make any further excuses on wind, cold, snaps, holds or anything else that may have made life harder on him Sunday. He also felt good about the two extra points and two 33-yard field goals he did make, though the second was tipped at the line of scrimmage after a high snap that punter Pressley Harvin had to get down in a hurry.
“That was definitely my worst game as a pro. But on the positive side, I thought I was kicking the ball well the entire day. I was hitting the ball well,” said Wright, who was 3 of 4 on field goals in two games this year for the Chiefs and only missed three all of last season for Jacksonville. “Obviously, two weird instances happened where I just didn’t hit a ball that I liked, and there’s just certain things on those kicks that I looked at and I’m like, ‘That’s why that happened.’
“Just make sure that doesn’t happen again, that’s all I can do. ... I’m pretty confident that’s not me, and going forward, I’ll be better.”
Coach Mike Tomlin seems to agree. After the game he acknowledged the Steelers “left some points out there in the kicking game.” But he also didn’t put it squarely on the shoulders of Wright because, “operationally, it could have been better.”
With Boswell on injured reserve and forced to miss at least three more games before he can return, Tomlin must decide whether to stick with Wright or bring in competition on the practice squad, from which he can elevate a kicker on game days.
“We’ve had success with him,” Tomlin said of Wright, referring to his three-game stint with the Steelers in 2020, when he made all 11 of his kicks. “He left here and had continual success in the league. I think he was 21 of 24 in [Jacksonville]. He’s been successful in the league. We were comfortable with that information, not only in terms of what he’s done in the National Football League, but what he’s done here with us. So it wasn’t a long or significant discussion. Not necessary.”
Wright hadn’t talked to Tomlin or any other coaches as of 2 p.m Monday,
but he doesn’t need them to tell him how tenuous job security can be on special teams. He called his teammates, some of whom he knew from two previous tenures in Pittsburgh, “supportive” on a day “I didn’t do my job.”
Twice last year with the Jaguars he missed two kicks in a game, but both of those included misses from 50- plus yards. He went 14 for 14 on field goals and 6 for 6 on extra points starting in Week 11. It also can’t hurt that he’s now reacquainted with the banks of the three rivers.
“Yeah, I’d like to think so. I mean, I shouldn’t really be overthinking it,” Wright said. “Just kicking the ball, that should be the main thought. Wherever I am, the same thing’s going in my head. I should do the same routine and everything like that, so [location] shouldn’t play too much of a role.
“I should make those kicks. That’s just the bottom line.”