The Pittsburgh Steelers just blew out the New York Jets in front of a national audience on Sunday Night Football. There are many reasons the score shook out the way it did, but Russell Wilson’s debut as the starting quarterback is near the top of the list. It was a controversial move to replace Justin Fields while the Steelers were 4-2, but it immediately paid off with a 37-15 win over the Jets.
Tomlin was asked to evaluate Wilson’s play after the game.
“I thought he was excellent,” Tomlin said in a video on the Steelers’ YouTube page after the game. “I thought he got better as the game went on, but I’m not surprised by that. It’s been a while since he’s played some ball, but I thought he settled in, knocked the rust off man, and distributed the ball around and played well.”
It was a slow start, but Wilson really settled in and started to provide splash play after splash play in the passing game. That opened up the running game to help close out the game down the stretch. It is exactly what Tomlin was hoping for with the move to Wilson. It is just a one-game sample size, but it played out exactly according to plan.
Just look at George Pickens’ numbers for a glimpse at what Wilson brought the team. He elevated the Steelers’ best playmakers as a starting quarterback should. Pickens had five catches for 111 yards and a touchdown with another big pass interference gain that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet.
Wilson’s touch on his deep ball is perfect for an acrobatic catch specialist like Pickens. It gives him that extra split second to adjust and he is going to make those plays more often than not.
Here is Wilson’s passing chart from Next Gen Stats on X.
Wilson ended the day with 16 completions on 29 attempts for 264 yards, two touchdowns, and a rushing touchdown. That is statistically the best debut for a quarterback in Steelers history.
Tomlin took a lot of heat from the media this week once it became clear that Wilson would start. Many thought that Fields did nothing wrong to lose his job at 4-2, but Tomlin is in pursuit of being great — not just good.
When asked if that was the boldest decision he has ever made to start Wilson, Tomlin simply said, “I’m well compensated.”
There are going to be a lot of talking heads in the media that have to eat a lot of crow for their hot takes about Tomlin’s decision to go to Wilson. He looked great, and the team looked the best it has in years.
