While former NFL MVP Cam Newton believes Russell Wilson played well against the New York Jets, he also doesn’t think it’s sustainable. On his podcast 4th & 1 With Cam Newton, he said that he doesn’t think Wilson will be as good as Justin Fields through six games and that Wilson left some plays on the table.
“Now, over a six-game span, in the next couple games they got going on, it will be hard for me to think that Russell Wilson can do what Justin Fields did with the six games that he played in. That’s just me. Did he play a great game? Yes. Did he play within himself? Yes. Were there plays to be had that didn’t be had? Yes.”
Newton also downplayed the performance a bit, given that it came against the Jets, a team with an impressive defense but was banged up in the secondary and has an underperforming front seven. The circumstances probably played a role in Wilson playing as well as he did, but he showed a lot of promise. He also wasn’t perfect, as he started slow. He had a few throws, especially the screen to Calvin Austin III that he threw in the ground, that he’d probably like to have back, and probably could’ve used just a little more air on some of his deep balls.
But his deep ball to Pat Freiermuth was a thing of beauty, and he still connected downfield with George Pickens even if the ball could’ve been better. At the end of the day, Wilson put his receiver in positions to make a play, and by and large, they did.
Pittsburgh’s next five games are against the New York Giants, Washington Commanders, Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, and Cincinnati Bengals. With three of those being divisional games, it will be more of a grind for Wilson and the Steelers since AFC North games are always a slugfest. It’s also a harder schedule than Fields faced Weeks 1-6. That’s not to say Fields didn’t play well, but if Wilson doesn’t have the same level of production, it shouldn’t be judged as a one-to-one comparison, given that the schedule is a little bit harder.
Regardless, if people like Newton had doubts about Wilson and his ability to turn things around, one game wouldn’t change their minds much. But Wilson seamlessly integrated into Pittsburgh’s offense and helped open up the passing game. If he can continue to do so, it’ll continue to lead to success on the ground for Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren like we saw on Sunday, and the offense as a whole will continue to roll.
