The beleaguered wide receivers corps of the Pittsburgh Steelers received a boost Wednesday with the return of Calvin Austin III to practice.
Austin missed this past Sunday’s loss at the Cleveland Browns and had to leave the prior game — a win at the Detroit Lions — because of a hamstring injury. His absence in Cleveland was confounded by DK Metcalf serving the first half of a two-game suspension.
“I had a good practice today,” said Austin, who was regarded as a limited participant on the league-mandated practice report. “Doing all the steps I can to be ready for Sunday. It’s pretty tricky with those soft tissue injuries and stuff, but we’ve got a great training staff and I’m sure that we’ll make a good plan to have me hopefully ready by Sunday.”
With 28 catches for 317 yards and two touchdowns, Austin is second to Metcalf among the Steelers’ statistical leaders for wide receivers.
Without Austin and Metcalf against the Browns, the Steelers got only a total of eight catches for 60 yards of production from their wide receivers and scored only six points in a defeat that cost the team a chance to clinch the AFC North.
Instead, Sunday’s home game against the Baltimore Ravens will determine who wins the division title and earns the No. 4 seed in the AFC playoff bracket.
“We want this (win) so bad, so at the end of the day, yeah, everybody’s going to do whatever it takes to be ready for Sunday,” Austin said.