Pittsburgh Steelers QB Russell Wilson has a long history of downfield success. In just two games with the Steelers, he has five connections on deep balls for 189 yards and a touchdown. Now, 13 years into his career, his philosophy is no different—whether down the field or otherwise.
“I throw it to them so they can catch it”, Russell Wilson said via the Steelers’ website. “I try to give guys the chance to make a play. But at the same time, you’re trying to get the ball to the right guy in the right situation every time. Get the ball in the flat, get the ball over the middle, get the ball down the field, get the ball right hand off the right check, this and that”.
The Steelers named Russell Wilson the starter at the beginning of the season. However, he missed the first five games due to injury and made his first start in Week 7. Over the past two games, he is 36-for-57 for 542 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions.
His 9.5 yards per pass attempt would rank first in the NFL if he threw enough passes to qualify. Notably, he averages 8.7 intended air yards per attempt, which aligns with his career averages. While his sample size with the Steelers is too small to mean anything, he is clearly off to a good start. And so much of that ties into his willingness to trust his targets.
“It’s the multiplicity of the game, and when you have great, talented guys that work really hard, it makes it easy on you”, Wilson said of his Steelers teammates. “It’s those guys that are making the great plays. I just try to give them a chance to let them be great. It’s their hard work. You spend time on it, and you’ve got to give tremendous credit to those guys because the amount of time that they spend on the extra work is the fun part playing this position. We get guys like that, like Van [Jefferson], Calvin [Austin III], and George [Pickens] and all those guys. Pat [Freiermuth]. You’ve got so many guys that have great leadership and work ethic. That’s the fun part about it”.
Russell Wilson is, of course, the league’s premiere complimenter, absolutely in love with anyone he has ever seen in his life. His endless praise for Scotty Miller and Connor Heyward has to make two guys contributing little to the Steelers’ passing game feel good.
And now, of course, the Steelers have given Wilson a new target to contend with. 6-4 WR Mike Williams comes in exactly mirroring the strengths of his quarterback’s intentions. What does he do well? Catch the ball vertically and in contested situations when he has a quarterback willing to give him a chance to make plays.
