When Russell Wilson was at his best, he had the benefit of playing with the Legion of Boom defenses of the 2010s Seattle Seahawks. They paired that defense with a strong running game powered by Marshawn Lynch, and Wilson was able to flourish without having to carry the entire operation. It has been just a one-game sample size with the Pittsburgh Steelers so far, but he has a similar setup with this team and should be poised to recreate some of that success.
“It’s the Seahawks’ offense,” NFL analyst and senior producer of NFL films Greg Cosell said via the Ross Tucker Football Podcast. “It’s run-game foundation. It’s play-action boot. It’s a highly schemed basic pass game. And it’s some deep shots, especially to [George] Pickens. You can play that way when you have a strong defense, and the Steelers do. So they’re basically running conceptually the same kind of offense that Wilson ran when he was with the Seahawks, ’cause that’s who he is.”
Wilson may not be the most adept quarterback at operating a quick passing game and getting through his reads to dice up a defense, but he is better at that than anyone they’ve had in recent years. His deep ball has already proven useful for the offense to get yards in chunks and open up some opportunities for the run game without as many bodies in the tackle box.
Najee Harris has back-to-back 100-yard games and is starting to hit his stride as the offensive line stabilizes following a rash of injuries. George Pickens had his best game of the season last Sunday night with 111 yards and a touchdown. Wilson also spread the ball around with four players having over 30 receiving yards and six players having three or more targets. That helped balance out the attack and open things up for the offense to play to its strengths.
It doesn’t hurt to have Pickens for Wilson to throw his signature moon ball to either.
“Pickens is a really gifted receiver,” Cosell said. “I think Pickens, just in terms of pure traits, just in terms of pure physical athletic traits as a receiver, given that he’s 6-3 — he’s top five in the league.”
Pickens recently told FS1’s The Facility that he views himself as a top-five player and that he just needs to be fed the ball more to prove it. Wilson is going to give him a chance to show it with how often he looks at Pickens in the deep passing game. With how much air he puts under his passes, Pickens is going to make a lot of spectacular catches.
So while everybody points to Wilson’s struggles with the Denver Broncos to say he is washed up as a starting quarterback, it’s an entirely different philosophy in Pittsburgh. They don’t need him to carry the entire operation, and the system he is playing in should feel just like home from Wilson’s Seahawks days.
