Calvin Austin III produced the biggest play in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Monday night win over the New York Giants, his 73-yard punt return score the first touchdown that stuck and the Steelers’ first such score in five years. Danny Smith’s unit has been on fire with blocked kicks, punts, and this play by Austin over the past four games.
So how did it happen? Let’s break it down.
It’s a solid 54-yard punt by Giants’ punter Matt Haack. The hangtime is lacking a bit, about 3.9 seconds, but the coverage team is running with free players downfield. Pittsburgh had a somewhat aggressive seven-man rush, OLB Jeremiah Moon trying to get home and colliding with Haack at the end. There was no flag.
Austin fields the ball on the right hash and darts left. He picks up a couple of key blocks here from CB James Pierre and TE Rodney Williams to help him turn the corner.
They use the “airplane block” technique of putting your body between the opposing player with hands up in the air to avoid any appearance or instinct of pushing from behind. They basically just try to wall the coverage players off, getting in the way enough or bumping them off track to give Austin a step.
Pierre’s is super subtle, but he cuts off the angle enough that the diving defender can’t trip Austin up. Williams’ block is really key as it gives Austin the edge. Pierre’s is first followed by Williams’ below.
From there, Austin turns upfield. RB Jonathan Ward, just signed to the 53 after running out of elevations and hanging around for his special teams value, works hard to stick to his block in the middle of the field. Neither are near Austin but it slows down the linebacker enough that it makes it hard for him to eventually get the angle. Another key block that’s easy to overlook.
Austin turns up the left sideline. He cuts back toward the middle of the field to find some space and S Damontae Kazee, a jammer who fell down on the flight of the punt, gets his body between Austin and the punter. Haack probably wouldn’t have made the tackle but could’ve slowed Austin down enough for the other 10 Giants to rally and take him down.
Here’s a look at the entire play from one of the end-zone views.
And credit to Austin here. While he was horizontal initially, he knew the Giants were setting up for a return to their left, Austin/the Steelers’ right. A left-footed punter from the left hash, you know which way the ball is going and the way the Giants want to set up their coverage.
So Austin took it to where they weren’t across the field, and once he had a lane, he got vertical and didn’t dance. From there, he showed his 4.3-speed, found daylight, and put the ball in the end zone. A big-time play that sparked Pittsburgh the rest of the way, giving the team a lead that it wouldn’t relinquish.
