Steelers, Calvin Austin 'overcame the obstacles' in Monday night win over Giants

The Pittsburgh Steelers were stunned when two first-half touchdown passes to George Pickens were called back, as penalties stalled scoring drives by forcing them to repeatedly settle for field goals.

With the game against the New York Giants tied at halftime, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin told his team to acknowledge that they needed to make some plays to break it open. Wide receiver Calvin Austin answered the call in the second half with a pair of touchdowns that caused a seismic shift in momentum.

Austin scored on an electrifying 73-yard punt return late in the third quarter and added a 29-yard catch early in the fourth to spark the Steelers to a 26-18 win Monday night before an announced crowd of 66,637 at Acrisure Stadium.

It was their 100th prime-time regular season game since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger and their 22nd consecutive victory in a Monday Night Football home game, a streak that dates to a 23-20 loss to the Giants on Oct. 14, 1991.

“The best part about it was that we overcame the obstacles. That’s the silver lining in it all,” said Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson, who completed 20 of 28 passes for 274 yards and a touchdown. “We scored two touchdowns that were beautiful by George, and we still overcame it. That game would’ve really been broken out if we’d had those two. We’ve got to keep finding those moments that really break out those games. … I can’t say enough about Calvin. That was a big play. That punt return was a big catalyst for us.”

The Steelers (6-2) enter the bye week in first place in the AFC North, with a one-game lead over the Baltimore Ravens. The Steelers visit the NFC East-leading Washington Commanders (6-2) on Nov. 10. The Giants (2-6) play host to the Commanders this Sunday.

Where the offense carried the Steelers as they compiled 426 yards of total offense, with Najee Harris rushing for 114 on 19 carries, the defense started slow but finished strong. The Giants got 145 rushing yards from Tyrone Tracy, whose 45-yard touchdown run was one of their five plays of 25 yards or longer. But the Steelers came up with critical turnovers in the fourth quarter on a T.J. Watt strip sack and fumble recovery and Beanie Bishop’s last-minute interception.

The teams traded field goals in the first half, and Chris Boswell and Greg Joseph both converted all four attempts for the game. Boswell started with a 31-yarder after the Steelers opened with a 10-play, 57-yard scoring drive that came after an 11-yard touchdown pass to Pickens was nullified by a facemask penalty by right tackle Broderick Jones.

The Giants answered with a 43-yard pass from Daniel Jones to Darius Slayton, who split defensive backs Donte Jackson and Minkah Fitzpatrick on a post pattern to the Steelers’ 16. But their drive was disrupted by a delay of game penalty on third-and-7 at the 13, and the Giants tied the game on Joseph’s 29-yard field goal.

Wilson found tight end Darnell Washington on the right sideline for a 29-yard gain, and Harris followed by breaking a 26-yard run to the Giants’ 8. But the offense stalled, as Harris ran for 1 yard and Wilson twice threw incomplete as the Steelers settled for a 25-yard Boswell field goal for a 6-3 lead.

The Giants continued to shoot themselves in the foot, as they were whistled for five penalties on a 12-play, 45-yard drive that included a questionable roughing the passer call against Steelers outside linebacker Alex Highsmith. After Malik Nabers was ruled out of bounds in the end zone on a 21-yard pass, Joseph tied it with a 39-yard field goal.

The Steelers followed a 14-yard run from Harris – who hurdled Giants cornerback Deonte Banks – with passes of 12 yards to Van Jefferson, 13 to Harris and 14 to Pickens on a third-and-4 to the Giants 11. Two plays later, Wilson threaded doubled coverage to connect with Pickens in the back of the end zone for what appeared to be a 9-yard touchdown pass.

But referee Scott Novak stunned the Steelers and the home crowd by announcing that, after review, the pass was incomplete. Tomlin challenged the call, not realizing that replay assist was used to show that while Pickens tapped his right foot twice his left toe never touched the ground because Banks hit him under the left shoulder pad and knocked him out of bounds.

Pickens, who also had a touchdown called back against Denver, couldn’t quite explain what happened on the play.

“I’m not really sure,” Pickens said. “I had a touchdown in a few other games that called back, so I don’t know if it’s personal with me, the officiating. … I scraped the ground. They said it wasn’t there. Then they said two feet is equal to one, stuff I don’t even know.”

So the Steelers turned to Boswell again, this time for a 27-yard field goal and a 9-6 lead with 8:12 remaining in the first half.

The first punt of the game didn’t come until the two-minute warning in the first half, just after Wilson was sacked for a 10-yard loss. The Giants used a 36-yard pass from Jones to Slaton over the middle and an 11-yard pass to Slaton to set up Joseph’s 44-yard field goal to make it 9-9 with 21 seconds left in the half.

The Steelers finally scored a touchdown with 4:38 left in the third quarter, when Austin fielded the punt to the right of the hash marks and raced toward the left sideline and off a chip block by tight end Rodney Williams on Giants long snapper Casey Kreiter. Austin then cut inside, avoiding three Giants defenders and bounced back outside to outrun linebacker Matthew Adams on his way to the end zone.

“A block got me around the edge,” Austin said, “and once I was there in the open field, everything is just football at that point.”

The question was whether it would count, as Steelers outside linebacker Jeremiah Moon rolled under Giants punter Matt Haack and took out his right (plant) leg. There was a flag on the play, as the Giants were called for an illegal formation. But the Steelers declined the penalty, and it marked their first punt return for a touchdown since Diontae Johnson’s 85-yarder at Arizona on Dec. 8, 2019, the first on their home field since Antonio Brown’s 71-yarder against Indianapolis on Dec. 6, 2015.

“That’s why they call special teams ‘special,’” Pickens said. “When Calvin did that, he kind of lit a fire under the team.”

The Steelers made a pair of third-down conversions on their next scoring drive, as Wilson threw 36 yards to Jefferson on third-and-11 and then found Austin behind Giants cornerback Dru Phillips for the 29-yard touchdown and a 23-9 lead with 13:16 remaining.

The Giants responded with a 45-yard touchdown run by Tracy to cut it to 23-15, but their two-point conversion attempt using a swinging gate formation failed when Highsmith smothered Nabers on a pass from Jones.

Wilson connected with Pickens for a 43-yard pass along the left sideline to the Giants 10. But Wilson was sacked for a 4-yard loss, forcing another Boswell field goal, this one from 27 yards for a 26-15 lead.

A 48-yard field goal by Joseph cut the lead to 26-18, and the Giants recovered a Wilson fumble at the Steelers’ 37 with 4:30 remaining. But on third-and-7 at the 19, Watt got a strip sack of Jones for his fourth forced fumble in the past four games and recovered at the 28 with 2:59 remaining.

Jones got one last chance on a drive that started at the Giants’ 7. He completed five passes, including a 25-yarder to Theo Johnson, before Bishop – who had his first two career interceptions last Sunday in a 37-15 win over the New York Jets – picked off a tipped ball at the 30 with 34 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

“We’re built for these big moments,” Highsmith said. “It seems like a lot of times when we have the lead, on too many drives we’re either ending the game with a sack or we’re getting a pick. Just finishing well. … We’ve just got to start faster.”