The Pittsburgh Steelers offense came out and started the first quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders like fans have come to expect - with couple of punts. The defense surrendered a touchdown to wide receiver, Davante Adams on the next drive. Kenny Pickett and the offense stepped out onto the field at Allegiant Stadium for their third possession of the game and gave the Steelers faithful that had made the trip to Sin City their first big reason to cheer before the game ended with a 23-18 Pittsburgh win.
The unit started the drive with an incomplete pass to George Pickens on first down. Jaylen Warren was able to find a little bit of space on second down to get a three-yard gain and then Pickett said during his post-game press conference that it was the Raiders focus on Pickens that allowed him to complete the deep catch and run to Calvin Austin III. The speedy wideout had blown by veteran Raiders cornerback, Marcus Peters and Pickett hit him at the 34 yard-line in stride. Austin took it from there untouched to the end zone to even up the game at seven apiece when the Steelers needed it.
"They were doing a really good job of doubling George all night and making it really hard to get him touches," Pickett said. "That leaves other guys singled up. Cal [Austin] had press and he took the post and it was really good."
Pickett said that he had tried to find Austin on a similar play during the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers but wasn't able to connect. He added that it felt really good to get the play to work on Sunday night against the Raiders. Pittsburgh was hoping that Austin could handle a slightly larger workload with Diontae Johnson out after suffering a hamstring injury in Week 1. Austin only had one other catch in the contest that was a failed quick pass for no gain but his 72-yard grab gave some extra juice to an offensive unit that has had little to none in the previous two games of 2023.
Despite the double teams, Pickens still led the team with four receptions for 75 yards. Austin was right behind him with two catches for 72 yards. Pickett spread the ball around during the contest also finding Allen Robinson four times and tight end Pat Freiermuth on three occasions, including off a naked bootleg for the score Pittsburgh needed to win the game near the end of the third quarter. Warren also caught three passes.
Steelers' Pickett Gives Big Praise To Austin
Pittsburgh was really excited with what Austin could bring to the offense with his explosive speed. Unfortunately for both him and the team, it has taken a little longer than they would've liked to have him start making an impact.
Austin had missed all of what should've been his rookie season in 2022 with a foot injury. Pickett said it was really special to see Austin making a play like that in just his third game of NFL action.
"Guy shows up every day and works really hard," Pickett said of Austin. "He's super talented. We can put him in those positions to be successful when we put him downfield and he's going to do that consistently. It's something we can continue to work on."
Pittsburgh took advantage of a perceived weakness on the defensive side for the Raiders by getting Austin matched up on the aging Peters. The veteran has clearly lost a step as he tries to extend his career as a 30-year-old on his fourth team. This could be a potential formula for the Steelers offense moving forward. As Pickett said, they will continue to work to find ways to get their talented speedster involved and hopefully for more big plays. Austin has the jets to burn a lot of corners in the league and if Pickens continues to draw the double teams, Austin should get a crack at more long gains.
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