Calvin Austin III: Steelers’ Offense ‘Gotta Be The Ones,’ Can’t Always Be Relying On Defense

The Pittsburgh Steelers offense is going to look a lot different in 2024 with Arthur Smith as their offensive coordinator and Russell Wilson or Justin Fields under center, and WR Calvin Austin III knows it’s time for the offense to step up. Appearing on The Ed Block CourageCast, Austin talked about the need for Pittsburgh’s offense to step up and said the team can’t always rely on its defense.

“I feel like a lot of times when we look at the Steelers, it’s all about relying on our defense. And we have a top-notch defense, of course, but we gotta be the ones. We can’t always be like, ‘okay, the defense did this, the defense needs to, if they would’ve stopped them one more time.’ No, the offense, we need to be the ones that the team can count on that can score those points. For us, I know if we get that offense and defense together, then you can really start to be serious about making a run at things,” Austin said.

Pittsburgh hasn’t had a good offense in a number of years. While the team’s defense has been elite and helped them sneak into the playoffs, the lack of offensive firepower means they don’t do anything when they get there. It also costs the team wins in the regular season, and Austin knows that can’t happen this season.

The Steelers made it a point to revamp and improve their offense, and Calvin Austin could play a big role for them this season. He’s in contention for the No. 2 receiver job, taking a leadership role in the offense, and with one season of football and two seasons as a professional under his belt, he can take a big leap this year. He’s right that if the offense and the defense can get on the same page and the offense takes a step forward, then the Steelers can legitimately be contenders this season.

As it stands right now, they should still be a playoff team, assuming the offense does improve. The defense has the potential to be elite. The big question will be just how much better the offense can be this season because the bigger the leap, the better the Steelers will be. The defense has bailed out a bad offense far too often over recent years, and this season should be a little bit different, with the offense presumably able to put more points up on the board.

Pittsburgh’s offensive performance under Smith and their new quarterbacks will be one of the biggest storylines in the league this season, and it’ll be good to see if they can put it all together.