{"id":766088,"date":"2026-02-21T05:01:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T05:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/766088\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T05:01:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T05:01:16","slug":"in-2025-nfl-receivers-ran-thousands-of-routes-calvin-austin-iiis-was-named-no-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/766088\/","title":{"rendered":"In 2025, NFL Receivers Ran Thousands Of Routes. Calvin Austin III’s Was Named No. 1."},"content":{"rendered":"

He wasn\u2019t even sure what route he wanted to run. It ended up being the best route of the season.<\/p>\n

A double move late in the Week 18 game against the Baltimore Ravens proved to be the right decision by Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Calvin Austin III.<\/p>\n

According to a video from NFL Network ranking the 10 best routes of the season, Austin\u2019s double move that beat Chidobe Awuzie late in the regular-season finale to win the AFC North title landed at No. 1.<\/p>\n

Leading up to the deciding play, veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers asked Austin what route he wanted to run. Austin, who is relatively quiet, was unsure in the huddle. Ultimately, tight end Pat Freiermuth chimed in and told Austin to just beat the cornerback.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018What do you want Cal?\u2019\u201d Rodgers told reporters after the win over the Ravens, via the Steelers\u2019 YouTube channel<\/a>. \u201cAnd somebody to my right, I don\u2019t know if it was [Mason] McCormick or Pat said, \u2018Just go cook him,\u2019 or something. So I said, \u2018Alright, Cal, run a hitch and go back there.\u2019 I just peeked back to the left and saw number three slip.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, you know, that\u2019s a gimme touchdown. But I\u2019m proud of Calvin. And the line really gave me a lot of time all day.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Austin did, causing Awuzie to fall down on the double move, leaving him wide open for the game-winning score.<\/p>\n

It was a nice cap on an up-and-down season for Austin, who battled injuries and inconsistency much of the year. But in big spots time and again throughout the season, Austin came up large.<\/p>\n

He had the game-winning touchdown catch in Week 1 against the New York Jets, and then two weeks later on the road against the New England Patriots had the game winner on a similar route down the left sideline.<\/p>\n

But with the season on the line, it was rather fitting that Rodgers wanted to go to Austin. Credit to the young receiver for rewarding him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never know when your moment is gonna be called. And, you know, we just attack practice each week,\u201d Austin said of the game winner.<\/a> \u201cMe and A [Rodgers] been working on that route, probably like three, four weeks. And you never know when it\u2019s gonna come into fruition. And it came into fruition at the biggest moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

That hard work paid off in the biggest spot of the season. And now it will live on in Steelers-Ravens history, not to mention league lore, too, as the best pass route of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He wasn\u2019t even sure what route he wanted to run. It ended up being the best route of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":766089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2052],"tags":[184,117,2282,8741,7,6,57,169],"class_list":{"0":"post-766088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-ravens","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-baltimore-ravens","10":"tag-baltimoreravens","11":"tag-calvin-austin-iii","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","15":"tag-ravens"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116106866560054003","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/766089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}