Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz named NFLPA Week 9 Community MVP
Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz earned NFLPA Week 9 Community MVP honors for a $10,000 gift that opened a resource room at Pittsburgh Morrow PreK-8.
Pittsburgh Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz is the NFL Players Association's Week 9 Community MVP. The award recognizes a $10,000 donation from his Kuntz 4 Ki6s foundation that paid to open a resource room and food pantry at Pittsburgh Morrow PreK-8 in the city's Brighton Heights neighborhood, Steelers.com reported.
The award comes with $10,000 more from the union, which goes to Kuntz's foundation. It also makes him eligible for the Alan Page Community Award, the NFLPA's top honor for community service. Still Curtain reported that the room will serve more than 200 students and 70 families each month. Kuntz and his wife, Heather, helped stock its shelves before it opened. The foundation's name plays on his jersey number, 46. It focuses on youth leadership, mentoring and support for underserved communities around Pittsburgh. Its work this fall also included a Halloween party for local kids.
For Kuntz, this is a hometown story. Behind the Steel Curtain noted that he grew up in the area and played high school football at Chartiers Valley in Bridgeville. He then went to Duquesne, where he still holds the school's career sacks record. Speaking at the ribbon-cutting, Kuntz told Steelers.com that "Pittsburgh has always been home." He is in his sixth season with the Steelers and has played in 93 career games.
The NFLPA picks one player each week for his work in his team's city. Specialists rarely get noticed unless something goes wrong, and Kuntz has handled every snap on punts, field goals and extra points for a team that keeps winning close games.
What it means for Cincinnati
The award doesn't change anything on the depth chart, but it lands while the Steelers are playing their best football of the season. Pittsburgh is 6-2 and has won four straight, most recently a 27-6 home win over Cleveland. That game made up for a 27-24 loss in Cleveland earlier in the year. The defense has driven the streak. Over the last four games Pittsburgh has allowed 57 points, a little over 14 per game, and only Indianapolis scored more than 19. Through eight games the Steelers have outscored opponents 180-144.
Next up is a Sunday night trip to Cincinnati on November 15, broadcast on NBC. Pittsburgh already beat the Bengals once, 30-27 at home. That game and the 16-10 win over New Orleans are reminders of how much of this season has been decided by a single score. In games like that, the snap on a late field goal or a punt from deep in Pittsburgh's own territory matters. That has been Kuntz's job for six seasons, and the Steelers will lean on it again as they try to make it five wins in a row on the road in a division game.
