In seven and a half weeks from now the Pittsburgh Steelers will open their 2016 season on a Monday night and on the road against the Washington Redskins. While we are weeks away from providing you matchups to pay close attention to in that contrast, it’s not too early to point out one to watch when it comes to special teams play.
In a Thursday morning post on Twitter, Steelers linebacker Vince Williams playfully let it be known that he can’t wait to square off his former teammate Terence Garvin, who signed with the Redskins during the offseason. Williams went as far as to say he wants to knock Garvin out in his hometown.
While Garvin didn’t log very many playing snaps on defense during his few years in Pittsburgh, he was able to establish himself as a top player on special teams during that span of time and he will always be remembered for the crushing block that he made on Cincinnati Bengals punter Kevin Huber during a touchdown-scoring punt return by wide receiver Antonio Brown back in 2013. That hit resulted in Huber breaking his jaw and Garvin being fined.
As for Williams, like Garvin, he’s already established himself as a commodity on special teams as he enters his fourth season in the league. If things go as planned, Williams will likely be a core special teams member once again in 2016 and thus should wind up being on the field quite a bit in that Monday night opener against the Redskins.
It will be fun to see if these two former teammates exchange a few licks while running up and down the field covering punts and kickoffs and we’ll update this post should Garvin reply back to Williams on Twitter.
