Arthur Smith Praises Calvin Austin III for Being Memphis Tough: ‘We Wanted to Draft Him When I Was in Atlanta’
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Darnell Washington and wide receiver Calvin Austin III both were called for unnecessary roughness penalties late in the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles accepted the penalty on Austin, and declined the one on Washington.
On the play, Wilson completed a swing pass to running back Najee Harris, and Washington was the lead blocker in the flat and drove Slay into the back wall near the front row. Slay was basically on skates, as the 6-foot-8 Washington drove him back.
Slay and his Eagles teammates took exception to Washington’s block, and that’s when the pushing and shoving started to occur.
Calvin Austin III said after the game that he jumped in because he saw multiple Eagles players attacking Washington.
“If I see plenty of Eagles come up and surround [Darnell], like, yeah, I’m going to come in and help my dog, but I guess being the biggest guy out there, I’m going to get flagged,” the 5-foot-9 Austin said sarcastically.
Austin said he was surprised that only he and Washington got penalized.
“Most definitely, when punches are thrown it’s usually an automatic (penalty),” he said.
With Austin being born in Memphis and playing his college ball in the city, Steelers offensive coordiantor Arthur Smith is not surprised by his toughness.
“Well, I knew Calvin [Austin III] was tough. He’s from Memphis, a little partial to him,” Smith said on Thursday. “I knew that coming out. Knew a lot about him being from Memphis myself and my brother played in that program, pretty close to that program. So we wanted to draft him when I was in Atlanta, and then obviously Pittsburgh took him. I was excited when I got here for the opportunity to work with him. Doesn’t surprise me when you’re wired like he is. That play, I mean the biggest thing that bothers me on that play is regardless of what happened after that, we got to be smarter when the journey is over. We want to be physical but we don’t want to be a band of pirates and do things that hurt the team, because ultimately, the journey is over, we got the ball on the four, and we got a slow start. We know it’s a long game and you got a real opportunity to put seven on there and you get seven yards, and it’s all subjective. But we did it to ourselves, being in that situation, and that’s the thing.”
Smith appreciates the block by Washington, but he wishes he didn’t drive Slay all the way back to the wall.
“Darnell, it’s all the guys that played really hard. There is a fine line. If you’re caught in that BS that led to that, the journey was over. So take it to the wall. You know, could have just dumped them in the end zone and lined up and played from the four and see what happened,” Smith said. “So then you’re a second and a mile, third and a mile and you settle for three. Those are the situational stuff. There was a lot of things in that game we have to improve. Sometimes it could be a good readjustment. Things are going your way and things you’re talking about and you’re coaching, sometimes maybe takes a tough lesson a because you’ve got to get ready. We got a huge matchup Saturday.”
On Monday, Tomlin revealed he was still not satisfied with the explanations he received from the refs on Sunday.
“I don’t want to get into specifics of what was said to me in game or how that was administered,” Tomlin said. “There’s some controversy around it. I acknowledge that.”
RELATED: Mike Tomlin Still Not Pleased with Officiating vs. Eagles: ‘There’s Some Controversy Around It’
Alan Saunders and Aaron Becker provided reporting from Pittsburgh.
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