The Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense has gotten a facelift under Russell Wilson. To call it a transformation would be a step too far. Conceptually, it’s the same model of winning. Run the ball, use play-action, don’t turn it over. But Wilson has this offense looking 30 years younger, or at least a decade back to the era when Pittsburgh could put up points and win something other than a 14-10 slugfest. Still, despite the 26-point showing against the New York Giants’ underrated defense tonight, Wilson wants more. And when Pittsburgh gets there, they’ll be a tough out for any team they face.
“There’s a lot we gotta work on,” Wilson said with ESPN’s Lisa Salters after the game. “There’s a lot we gotta work on. We can play cleaner. There’s more touchdowns out there. We had some tonight but got called back. It’s one of those things that we’re gonna catch our groove in such a way, I believe that that’s gonna make it really hard on other teams.”
Posting 26 points is a respectable showing against a Giants’ defense that routinely held opponents under 22. And relative to where the Steelers have been, that figure is worthy of celebration. But Pittsburgh could’ve scored 40 tonight, had it not been for missed opportunities. The Steelers finished 0-4 in the red zone with two touchdowns called off, one by penalty and one by WR George Pickens failing to get his left foot inbounds.
Still, the progression was there. Pittsburgh finished with 426 yards of offense, the third time they’ve hit that mark under OC Arthur Smith after failing to do so once in 44 games under former OC Matt Canada. They’ve done it in both games with Wilson at the helm, 409 in Week 7’s win against the New York Jets with a similar total Monday night. The offense is showing it can win at all levels and in all ways. Run game, short passing game, and vertical shots that net chunk plays. Wilson had a strong performance, finishing with 278 yards and a score. He could’ve finished with three of them.
A poor offense has been holding the Steelers back for years. Now, they might have the missing ingredient to allow them to win a playoff game, and potentially more. A veteran like Russell Wilson is happy to be 2-0 and the Steelers 6-2, but there are no midseason crowns.
“Being 6-2 isn’t our end goal,” Wilson said. “It’s not our end goal and we can’t be satisfied with that. We gotta come back to work and we gotta understand that, celebrate this moment, be in this moment, but the next one’s coming and we gotta be ready to go.”
That includes playing all six of their divisional games, their first one coming in Week 11. From there, they’ll play four in a row with their only “breaks” coming against the 5-2 Philadelphia Eagles and 7-0 Kansas City Chiefs. But the first half of the Steelers schedule went about as well as could be predicted. And their offense, under Wilson, is only getting better.
