Steelers Must Find New Solution at Kicker After Josh Scobee Collapse on TNF

There were many mistakes and miscues in the Pittsburgh Steelers' 23-20 overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night. 

The lack of involvement of Steelers receiver Antonio Brown, thanks to Mike Vick having to step in at quarterback for the injured Ben Roethlisberger, was one. Play-calling was another—particularly the Steelers' decisions on two fourth-down plays in the overtime period that did not involve handing off to running back Le'Veon Bell.

But the real reason the Steelers fell to the then-winless Ravens came down to one man, and one man alone: kicker Josh Scobee. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Chris Adamski relayed this quote from Scobee:

Scobee came into Thursday's game with an already blemished record, having made only four of his six field-goal attempts over his first three weeks with the team, as well as one missed extra point. And his two missed field goals—and the aftereffects of those misses—are what led to the game getting to overtime in the first place.

The first miss came just before the final two minutes of regulation, with Scobee failing to convert on a 49-yard attempt. The second was with just over a minute left to play in the fourth quarter, with this miss coming on a 41-yard attempt.

The Ravens then went on to tie the game with a field goal of their own at the end of regulation. Instead of needing to drive for a touchdown, they simply had to get in the range of their kicker, Justin Tucker, which isn't difficult to do—a 50-yard try for him is no big deal.

Week	1-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	Total	XPA	XPM
@ NE	0	1	0	1	0	2/4	1	1
vs. SF	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	4	3
@ StL	0	1	0	1	0	2/2	0	0
vs. BAL	0	0	1	1	0	2/4	2	2
Total	0	2	1	3	0	6/10	7	7

It was clear that Thursday's contest was going to be a rough one, given the lack of preparation time for Vick and the fact that he has only been with the Steelers for just over one month. Even with all the weapons the Steelers boast on offense, such as Bell and Brown, others like Scobee would also need to step up in order to get Pittsburgh its third win of the year.

It's extra painful given the circumstances that brought Scobee to Pittsburgh in the first place. Incumbent kicker Shaun Suisham suffered a season-ending leg injury in the first of the Steelers' five preseason games. Then, his replacement, Garrett Hartley, suffered a season-ending hamstring injury of his own, leading the Steelers to trade a sixth-round pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars for Scobee's services in late August.

Now, the Steelers have a tough decision to make. While the gut reaction is to send Scobee packing immediately, it's more complicated than that. 

There's the matter of Scobee's salary to consider. It was initially set to be $3.425 million for 2015, but with the Jaguars agreeing to take on the payment of his $925,000 bonus, the Steelers are on the hook for $2.5 million. If the Steelers cut Scobee, that's a large chunk of dead money to carry through the season.

There's also the fact that the Steelers gave up a sixth-round pick to Jacksonville for Scobee. Choosing to cut Scobee not only means they have dead money on their salary cap but have essentially thrown away a draft pick. A sixth-round pick is no given to make a 53-man roster, to be sure, but to not even get sixth-round value out of Scobee's leg this year is a double-fail.

But if the Steelers do move on from Scobee—a decision that would be wholly forgivable given Thursday's performance despite what it would cost in both cash and pride—there are options in free agency. It's not as though there are only a handful of capable kickers the Steelers can work out, and many—like, as an example, Carey "Murderleg" Spear—would cost very little money for the remainder of the season.

In the situation the Steelers are in—without Roethlisberger for at least a month—they need to have other players they can rely on, not only to help them move the chains on offense but also score points. And, beyond kickoff duties, Scobee's only job is to be a reliable source of points, whether extra points or field goals.

Scobee hasn't proven to be able to do either on a consistent basis. This would be less of a problem with a fully healthy Roethlisberger on the field, but without him, Scobee's weaknesses are that much more glaring and that much more costly to the Steelers.

Yes, there are myriad other things the Steelers could have done better on Thursday. The defense struggled to stop the run, to the tune of 191 total Ravens rushing yards. The play-calling was confusing, especially when considering Vick's level of preparation.

But it's Scobee who put the Steelers in the situations they were in to make poor play-calling decisions, and it's Scobee who ultimately led to the game going into overtime. And it was Scobee's two earlier misses that had head coach Mike Tomlin nervous to have him attempt a 50-yard field goal in overtime that, if made, would have won the game.

There needs to be consequences for Scobee's misses. And it would not be surprising at all if those consequences are Scobee getting a pink slip—and soon—and the Steelers holding kicker auditions as early as this weekend.