If you could strip down Russell Wilson’s career as an NFL quarterback into two defining traits, it would be his ability to extend plays and his spectacular deep ball. His deep passes have come to be known as “moon balls” due to the trajectory and the incredible amount of loft he puts under the ball. While his ability to escape pressure has diminished with age, we saw in his debut with the Pittsburgh Steelers that he can still toss the ball deep with great success.
“He’d be the first to tell you, we’re greedy, we want more,” offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said Thursday of Wilson’s moon balls in a transcript provided by the team. “Historically, it’s what has made him the player he is. He has got a unique spatial awareness and touch. You can drill those things, but some guys have a great feel for putting it out in front, know who you’re throwing it to, how much you need to lead them, dropping things in there.”
Russell’s Steelers debut started slow, with zero deep completions in the first quarter, but he dropped one in for George Pickens for a 44-yard gain toward the beginning of the second quarter. He went on to have five explosive passing plays of 20 or more yards. Some of the throws weren’t perfectly on target and fell a bit short, but when you have a receiver like Pickens who is able to adjust back to the ball in the air, that isn’t always a bad thing. It also helped draw a critical pass interference penalty at the end of the first half.
Dan Orlovsky explained this perfectly via ESPN’s Get Up this morning. He pulled similar throws for Wilson and Justin Fields, and Wilson has about 66.7 percent more hang time on his deep go routes to outside receivers. That is a lot more time for the receivers to adjust and position themselves accordingly.
Of all the five explosive passing plays, there was one that impressed Smith the most, and it was one of the shorter passes in terms of air yards.
“I thought the most impressive throw he made, we were running a keeper out of a gap scheme, and the d-end didn’t close,” he said. “They make you hot. You work on that. Not just he got it off, but he was able to get it off where Pat [Freiermuth] was able to run through it so he didn’t have to catch it behind. That’s what makes me excited as we keep working.”
Russell Wilson had pressure in his face and had to adjust his throw angle to thread the ball to Freiermuth. Not only did he get it to him, but he hit him in stride to turn a five-yard gain into a 30-yard gain. Yards after the catch is something that has been missing in the Steelers’ passing game for quite some time. Wilson appears poised to bring that back in a big way.
So it isn’t just a matter of Wilson being able to execute the moon ball, but his general sense of how to hit receivers in stride and his “unique spatial awareness,” as Smith put it, that have the team excited about the offense’s potential.
