Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin inserted QB Russell Wilson into the starting lineup Sunday night against the New York Jets and won big time—figuratively and literally. His gamble paid off, at least on the first go-around. We will have to see what the rest of the season has in store for us. But Wilson even knows it took him some time to adjust. He even recalls the moment it clicked and he understood that he was back doing what he does.
“I think throwing that first touchdown to George [Pickens] was the moment I was like, ‘Alright, there’s gonna be a lot more of these, I believe’”, Wilson said, via the Steelers’ website, after the game. “Sometimes it takes that first home run, that first double off the wall, whatever it may be. You put all the hard work in, and guys are doing the work and at some point it’s gonna turn in your favor. It did tonight. We did a great job, and I’m excited about our football team”.
Former Wilson teammate Brandon Marshall asked the Steelers quarterback that question, so you can trust that he gave a genuine answer. And I should note that score took over 29 minutes, just before halftime. So basically he’s admitting it took him half the game to get his legs under him and feel confident.
Which is hardly surprising. Russell Wilson had last played a meaningful game before Christmas. While the Steelers named him their starter, he battled a calf injury for literally months. Injured on the first day of training camp, he barely healed enough to lightly participate in the preseason. Then he aggravated the injury leading up to the regular season.
Wilson didn’t return to full participation in practice until Week 6, working with the second-team offense. He graduated to first-team duties and started in Week 7, but initially, it looked like Tomlin made a considerable mistake. Wilson looked plenty rusty, uncomfortable, and simply not on the same page with this teammates at times.
In fact, he only went 2-of-8 on his first eight pass attempts for 19 yards. The rest of the game, Wilson went 14-of-21 for 245 yards and two touchdowns, throwing zero interceptions. That’s about two games’ worth of action for Justin Fields.
Russell Wilson even set a Steelers record for the most passing yardage in a franchise debut. He is also the first Steelers quarterback to debut with a 30-plus-point performance since they began tracking quarterback starts in 1950.
In all, Wilson connected with Pickens four more times, totaling five receptions for 111 yards and a touchdown. But the Steelers had a balanced offense, also rushing for nearly 150 and two scores. That included one rushing touchdown of his own in addition to the two passing touchdowns.
The Steelers signed Wilson in free agency envisioning nights like this. He has 338 career passing touchdowns and another 31 rushing. He knows how to score points, win games, and win a championship. Last night’s game offered the team a vision of what that could be like in the Black and Gold. And Wilson saw that breakthrough himself at the end of that first half.
There’s more to come.
