It was a much-anticipated preseason game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Buffalo Bills, in large part due to the debut of veteran quarterback Russell Wilson for the Black and Gold.
Shortly after kickoff though on Saturday night at Acrisure, that anticipation turned into frustration and anger as the veteran quarterback was under siege from the get-go and couldn’t muster much of anything offensively.
Wilson saw five drives as QB1, completed 8-of-10 passes for 47 yards, and the Steelers scored zero points (though kicker Chris Boswell did miss a 52-yard field goal).
The performance from the offensive line was disastrous, especially second-year offensive tackle Broderick Jones, who allowed two sacks and multiple pressures, really struggling with the basics on the line of scrimmage. There was no run game to speak of either, and Wilson wasn’t free from criticism either as he struggled to properly execute the quick passing game, at least in the eyes of former quarterback Dan Orlovsky.
But it was Wilson’s inability to avoid pressure and get out of sacks that has CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell concerned. In a piece highlighting the good, the bad and the ugly from Preseason Week 2 in the NFL for every team, Wilson was highlighted as “the bad” for the Steelers, due to his lack of mobility.
“Current Steelers starting quarterback Russell Wilson. He completed eight of his 10 passes for 47 yards. He was sacked three times, bottom 10 in the preseason in sacks taken — tied for the 10th-most — despite playing in only one of the Steelers’ two preseason outings and did not lead the offense to any points,” Podell writes regarding Wilson for CBSSports.com. “His 527 career sacks taken through 12 seasons are the most in NFL history through a quarterback’s first 12 seasons. No one else in league [history] even has 450 through the first 12 seasons.
“Wilson once had a strong argument for the title of the NFL’s best creator outside the pocket in his 10 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks from 2012 to 2021, but age — he turns 36 on Nov. 29 — and all the hits he has taken over the years have taken their toll. He simply can’t escape danger and extend plays the way he once did.”
Yes, Wilson is sacked a ton. It’s been an issue for him throughout his career. He tends to hold onto the football too long looking to make that play down the field, and in turn it hurts him and the offense because he’s being sacked and putting the offense behind schedule.
It’s very hard to blame him for the issues Saturday night, though.
The only sack Wilson could have taken blame for was the max-protect sack with just two receivers out on routes. Wilson dropped back off of play-action and should have had a timer in his head, considering it was max protection, and that the Bills had a blitz call on with a safety firing downhill.
Either put it in the dirt at his receiver’s feet or throw it up for George Pickens on a go route down the right sideline, which is what the play was seemingly designed for. You cannot take a sack in that situation though, and Wilson did.
The other two, Jones was cooked by Buffalo defensive end Greg Rousseau, which gave Wilson no chance whatsoever to make a play.
Yes, he’s turning 36 this season, and yes he’s coming off of a calf injury suffered early in training camp that caused him to miss four practices and then be limited for another week before slowly easing back in. But this guy isn’t a statue at this point in his career. He can still move, still extend plays and still create magic.
Of course he’s not what he once was. He’s not like Justin Fields, either. Wilson will have to win between the ears more at this stage of his career, but he certainly needs better protection than what he received on Saturday night, that’s for sure.
