It was a decision met with a great deal of criticism entering Week 7, but the move by Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin to turn to veteran quarterback Russell Wilson as the starting quarterback paid off in a major way Sunday night in a blowout win over the New York Jets.
Wilson set a franchise record for passing yards in his team debut, throwing for 264 yards in the win over the Jets, adding 3 touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown, doing everything the Steelers were hoping for offensively, leading to the 23-point win.
Now, things are really looking up for the Steelers, who are 5-2 on the season and feeling rather good entering Week 8 against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.
If the offense plays like that, and the defense is as good as expected week after week, the Steelers could find themselves in contention.
Former NFL running back LeSean McCoy believes that to be the case as long as Wilson is under center.
Appearing on FS1’s “The Facility” Monday, McCoy said that the Steelers were what they wanted to be all along on offense Sunday night, and believes that Wilson — if he plays like he did against the Jets — can take the Steelers pretty far this season under Tomlin.
I was right….I’m gonna say this: I said what a coincidence Russell gets his first start as a Steeler and it’s a season high in points, season high in yards. Did y’all expect that? I did,” McCoy said of Wilson’s debut, according to video via FS1. “So I wanna say this, man, I think every receiver in the building is super happy that Russell is the starter. We have a chance to throw the ball downfield.
“The defense? Yeah, we finally gotta lead by double digits. …This is what the Steelers wanted all along.”
While the Steelers found a way to get to 4-2 on the season without Wilson under center as backup Justin Fields made enough plays with his arm and legs, things felt much different offensively on Sunday night with Wilson.
Things felt…easier. There was more space in both the run and the pass, there was a real rhythm, and the Steelers didn’t need to run some trick plays to create splash. Instead, they relied on Wilson’s right arm to create splash in the passing game, and that led to great success for the Steelers’ offense.
George Pickens had a monster game through the air for the Steelers, and even Van Jefferson made some plays as Wilson looked his way and hit him for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, extending the game to a 15-point lead for the Steelers.
For at least one week, the plan and the overall vision of the offense felt clear.
Now, the Steelers have to continue to build off of it. If they can, McCoy sees the Steelers going “pretty far” with Wilson as the quarterback.
“You know what? Watching that game yesterday, he could take ’em pretty far,” McCoy said of the Steelers under Wilson. “‘Cause the defense, they’re gonna play their game. They’ve been playing this game with bad quarterbacks for a long time. Now you actually have a good quarterback where, ‘Hey, we could put up 30 points. Oh wait, we could have a big lead going into the fourth quarter.’ The Steelers ain’t seen nothing like that. So now you gotta prepare for ’em differently.
“…I said this before, they’re gonna have a chance to beat some really, really good teams because defense travels no matter where it’s in the playoffs, on the road or at home. And now you get a guy like Russ, they run the ball officially for the most part. And Russ getting his players and receivers opportunities to catch the ball. They gonna be good.”
The Steelers are good, period. They’ve proven that time and time again early in the season, winning games in a variety of ways while playing with two quarterbacks that many teams in the NFL seemingly didn’t want in the offseason.
With Wilson under center now, the passing game looks rather solid, which can help open things up for the run game and can put points on the board in a hurry. That’s a scary thing for opposing defenses to have to deal with, especially if the Steelers can continue to pound the rock in the run game, too, and play great defense on the other side of the football.
Things are looking up right now for the Steelers. They’re flying high and feeling good. Maybe they can go far. Time will tell, but it’s hard to not be happy with what transpired Sunday night against the Jets.
