Tyler Loop’s missed kick as the literal last play of the 2025 regular season will be remembered forever. But it was Calvin Austin III’s touchdown that served as its final points, vaulting the Pittsburgh Steelers ahead of the Baltimore Ravens in their eventual victory to win the division and go to the playoffs.
A game that changed everything afterward. Days later, the Ravens fired longtime head coach John Harbaugh. One week and another Wild Card loss later, Mike Tomlin resigned.
Signing a one-year contract in March, Austin now plays for Harbaugh and the New York Giants. A full-circle moment he outlined in a recent interview with Go Long’s Ty Dunne.
“I got him fired, so we could come together,” Austin told Dunne in an article posted Tuesday.
On the surface, that seems logical. Austin’s touchdown and Pittsburgh’s win eliminated Baltimore from the postseason, creating another bitter Ravens ending. An 8-9 season where a late-season rally couldn’t dig them out of the hole they made for themselves. Harbaugh, similar to Tomlin, always had his teams competitive, but couldn’t get over the hump. Fans wanted change and ownership agreed.
However, even had Baltimore won that game, Harbaugh’s fate seemed sealed. Barring a magical Super Bowl run, owner Steve Bisciotti was candid change was coming.
“For a week,” Bisciotti told reporters in January when asked if Harbaugh would’ve remained head coach had the Ravens made the playoffs.
The storyline is still hard to ignore. One that began when Austin came out of the draft. Baltimore planned to select Austin with one of its several fourth-round picks. They opted to draft a punter first and get Austin later, but Pittsburgh jumped in to snag him first. Four years later, Austin would catch the biggest touchdown pass of his career against them.
Now, Austin and Harbaugh are on the same side. Attempting to return the Giants to glory. A franchise with one winning season since 2017 and the same number of playoff wins since its 2011 Super Bowl. Many head coaches have tried and failed. New York is banking on Harbaugh’s culture-building being the difference. Austin is there to help, now the goal of ensuring Harbaugh’s success for as long as possible.