Twice in his Hall of Fame career, Russell Wilson gave the Pittsburgh Steelers fits on the other side of the football.
Now, though, he’s in the Black and Gold, looking to give opposing defenses fits like he once did the Steelers.
For star outside linebacker T.J. Watt, he’s grateful that Russell Wilson is on his side of things now.
Speaking with reporters Wednesday after reporting to training camp, Watt stated that Wilson is a challenging guy to go against. Still, he’s “happy he’s with us” now as the Steelers embark on a much-anticipated 2024 season, thanks to a busy offseason that saw GM Omar Khan and assistant GM Andy Weidl make some significant roster upgrades, including the signing of Wilson at quarterback.
“Yeah, I think he’s done a great job. He’s a challenging guy to go against,” Watt said of Wilson, praising him for his work so far as a Steeler, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “He’s very calm and collected at the line of scrimmage, so you can’t show it too early.
“Just a guy that seems very calm and steady, never too high, never too low, and just loves to compete. So I’m happy he’s with us.”
In two previous matchups against the Steelers in his career, Russell Wilson is 2-0, having completed 50-of-65 passing attempts for 645 yards and eight touchdowns to zero interceptions. He added 10 carries for 36 yards in those two wins against Pittsburgh, though the Steelers did sack him six times.
Those are sparkling numbers, without a doubt.
While he’s not that same quarterback that the Steelers last saw in 2019 at home in Week 2 when he threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-26 win over the Steelers, Wilson still has some good football ahead of him.
He’s aiming to prove that in 2024 with the Steelers.
Going against the Steelers’ star-studded defense will be a good warm-up to the season for Wilson. It’ll be a great test for the Steelers defense, too, as Wilson has seen and done it all, knows how to get his offenses into good looks, and knows how to beat defenses with his arm and legs.
That’ll be a real challenge for the Steelers during training camp, one that Watt is looking forward to.
But when the games start, and things start to really matter, Watt is happy he won’t have to deal with Russell Wilson on the other side of things.
