Movie Room: Calvin Austin III Steps Up As Pittsburgh’s Prime Receiver In opposition to The Eagles

With Pittsburgh Steelers WR George Pickens sidelined for a second-straight week towards the Philadelphia Eagles, the Steelers’ offense as soon as once more needed to depend on spreading the wealth to its different choices within the passing recreation, together with Calvin Austin III, hoping to make up for not having their WR1 on the skin.

Pittsburgh struggled to throw on Philly’s secondary final Sunday. QB Russell Wilson solely threw for 128 yards whereas finishing 14-of-22 move makes an attempt, limiting Pittsburgh’s offensive success. The run recreation was shut down towards Philly’s stout defensive entrance.

WR Calvin Austin III led the workforce in receiving, catching 5 passes for 65 yards on the day. Austin has stepped up in his third season within the league, being a significant contributor with some clutch performs when the offense wanted it most. Though Pittsburgh fell brief 27-13 to Philadelphia, Austin as soon as once more proved helpful, catching all 5 passes he was focused on.

THE FILM

Once you return to the tape, you see Austin win a number of methods to get open and make the catch. Within the first clip beneath, Austin is lined up within the slot towards DB Cooper DeJean for Philadelphia. On the snap, Austin will get upfield and vegetation together 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.

Within the subsequent clip, we see Calvin Austin benefit from a protection bust by Philadelphia as they bit on the flea flicker whereas operating a deep over route towards the correct sideline. Wilson fires the move towards the sideline, with LB Zack Baun closing floor between him and Austin. Austin, nevertheless, is ready to find the ball and are available down with the catch as he falls to the bottom to regulate to the move, coming down with a 31-yard completion for the largest play of the day for Pittsburgh.

Calvin Austin’s final two catches of the sport got here on back-to-back performs within the fourth quarter, the primary being a 10-yard reception of first-and-10 and the second being a six-yard completion on second down after transferring the sticks on the earlier play.

Within the first play, Austin is lined up on the high of our display screen towards rookie CB Quinyon Mitchell. Austin fakes to the sideline on the snap, getting Mitchell to chew on an out of doors launch as Austin works again inside on the slant and makes the catch whereas sliding to the bottom to keep away from taking an enormous hit by S Reed Blankenship.

Within the second play, we see Calvin Austin lined up on the backside of our display screen, and he catches a bumble move that places him one-on-one with CB Darius Slay. Austin makes use of his velocity to get vertical and tries to choose up additional yardage, diving ahead as Slay and S C.J. Gardner-Johnson mix to make the cease.

Up to now, Calvin Austin has caught 28 passes on 47 targets for 452 yards and 4 touchdowns, far exceeding the offensive influence he made in 2023 with nonetheless three video games to go. He is probably not a perfect #2 broad receiver behind Pickens, however he has performed the most effective and has been essentially the most constant of Pittsburgh’s broad receivers.

In what has been a make-or-break yr for Calvin Austin, he’s delivered as much as expectations, all whereas enjoying with a participant he appeared as much as as a child.  With Pickens’ standing up within the air for the Ravens recreation on Saturday, Wilson could also be going to Austin extra this weekend, having him step up as soon as towards as Pittsburgh appears to be like to safe the AFC North crown on Saturday.