With Pittsburgh Steelers WR George Pickens sidelined for a second-straight week against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Steelers’ offense once again had to rely on spreading the wealth to its other options in the passing game, including Calvin Austin III, hoping to make up for not having their WR1 on the outside.
Pittsburgh struggled to throw on Philly’s secondary last Sunday. QB Russell Wilson only threw for 128 yards while completing 14-of-22 pass attempts, limiting Pittsburgh’s offensive success. The run game was shut down against Philly’s stout defensive front.
WR Calvin Austin III led the team in receiving, catching five passes for 65 yards on the day. Austin has stepped up in his third season in the league, being a meaningful contributor with some clutch plays when the offense needed it most. Although Pittsburgh fell short 27-13 to Philadelphia, Austin once again proved useful, catching all five passes he was targeted on.
THE FILM
When you go back to the tape, you see Austin win several ways to get open and make the catch. In the first clip below, Austin is lined up in the slot against DB Cooper DeJean for Philadelphia. On the snap, Austin gets upfield and plants with his inside leg to get vertical up the seam, getting a step on DeJean to make the catch between him and the linebacker for a pickup of 12 yards.
In the next clip, we see Calvin Austin take advantage of a coverage bust by Philadelphia as they bit on the flea flicker while running a deep over route toward the right sideline. Wilson fires the pass toward the sideline, with LB Zack Baun closing ground between him and Austin. Austin, however, is able to locate the ball and come down with the catch as he falls to the ground to adjust to the pass, coming down with a 31-yard completion for the biggest play of the day for Pittsburgh.
Calvin Austin’s last two catches of the game came on back-to-back plays in the fourth quarter, the first being a 10-yard reception of first-and-10 and the second being a six-yard completion on second down after moving the sticks on the previous play.
In the first play, Austin is lined up at the top of our screen against rookie CB Quinyon Mitchell. Austin fakes to the sideline on the snap, getting Mitchell to bite on an outside release as Austin works back inside on the slant and makes the catch while sliding to the ground to avoid taking a big hit by S Reed Blankenship.
In the second play, we see Calvin Austin lined up at the bottom of our screen, and he catches a bumble pass that puts him one-on-one with CB Darius Slay. Austin uses his speed to get vertical and tries to pick up extra yardage, diving forward as Slay and S C.J. Gardner-Johnson combine to make the stop.
To date, Calvin Austin has caught 28 passes on 47 targets for 452 yards and four touchdowns, far exceeding the offensive impact he made in 2023 with still three games to go. He may not be an ideal #2 wide receiver behind Pickens, but he has played the best and has been the most consistent of Pittsburgh’s wide receivers.
In what has been a make-or-break year for Calvin Austin, he’s delivered up to expectations, all while playing with a player he looked up to as a kid. With Pickens’ status up in the air for the Ravens game on Saturday, Wilson may be going to Austin more this weekend, having him step up once against as Pittsburgh looks to secure the AFC North crown on Saturday.
