The Pittsburgh Steelers were trending in a very positive direction against the Ravens in the fourth quarter, with yet another red zone opportunity for the offense. That quickly turned around when Russell Wilson threw an interception in the end zone.
Wilson turned back the clock a decade and showed off his vintage escape artist skills to get out of a certain sack and extend the play. So often in his career, that has resulted in game-changing touchdown passes. This time, it was a nightmarish turnover in the end zone while targeting 6-7 TE Darnell Washington.
Here is the play, posted by the NFL on X.
Wilson was asked about that play after the game and explained what he was going for on the critical mistake.
“I was trying to throw an alley-oop to big boy up there. Unfortunately it didn’t work out for us,” Wilson said during his postgame press conference on the Steelers’ YouTube. “That can’t happen, just trying to give him a chance, but unfortunately they made the play. But I have confidence in him.”
Given that the Steelers were up by 5 points in the fourth quarter, Wilson should probably have thrown the ball away to ensure they could secure an 8-point lead to have an opportunity for overtime at the very worst. That being said, I will be curious to look at the interception on the all-22 tape. It looked like Washington had an opportunity to go up and get that, or at least tip it out of bounds. He is a 6-7 behemoth, afterall, and jumped a 31-inch vertical at the combine with a 34 3/8-inch arm length. If anyone can get up there to make a play, it would be Washington.
Either way, I am just encouraged to see Washington getting more involved in the passing game. That has been happening all season, but today was a particularly good example. He was targeted four times and caught two of them for 42 yards. One was for 25 yards up the middle and another for 17 yards.
“Darnell’s been so big for us,” Wilson said. “Him in the run game, him in the passing game. Obviously he caught that big seam up the middle, which was a huge, huge play for us. I think that he’s done some really, really good things. We got great confidence in him. So that was another key part to the game.”
The middle of the field continues to be a sore spot for the Steelers offense, which is probably what has contributed to their struggles in the red zone. Getting guys like Washington, Pat Freiermuth, or Mike Williams more involved can add another dimension.
