The Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense and special teams appear ready to compete deep into the playoffs. In some ways, the offense does, too, but there is one glaring issue: they have been unable to convert yards and lengthy drives into touchdowns. The red zone offense has been miserable all season, especially since Russell Wilson entered the starting lineup four games ago.
It’s been so bad that Dan Orlovsky is saying Wilson is the worst red zone quarterback in the entire NFL, and he has the numbers to back it up.
“This defense in Pittsburgh can win a Super Bowl. This offense cannot right now,” Orlovsky said via ESPN’s NFL Live. “Russell Wilson’s the worst red zone quarterback in the NFL. Now, let that sink in. That’s not an assumption. That’s not an opinion. That’s a fact. His QBR in the red zone is an eight. That’s out of 100. The red zone performance is not good enough.”
With Justin Fields, they at least had the option of running it in for the touchdown, which he did five times from inside the red zone. Wilson has punched one in with his legs, but they aren’t the same types of runs that Fields could do to the outside.
When teams have left George Pickens in man coverage with no help, Wilson has completed a couple of fades to him. But it hasn’t gone very well for Wilson when they give help over the top or play zone. He had the interception against the Ravens while targeting Darnell Washington, though I’m not sure he deserves 100 percent of the blame with Washington not using his size to go up and get the ball.
They have found some success, like against the Washington Commanders in Week 10. Wilson found Pickens on a fade and Freiermuth on a flat route for two touchdowns in the red zone. And throughout his career, Wilson has actually been pretty good in the red zone.
I am not sure exactly what to point to for their struggles in that area, but they do have the opportunity to get some bigger players involved moving forward. Washington, Freiermuth, Pickens, and Williams are all over 6-3 to create some mismatches, and they have some capable running backs that can take screens or other short passing concepts into the end zone.
Whatever it is, they can’t continue to have a touchdown rate of just 44 percent, which is the third-worst mark in the league at the moment.
If they can figure it out, the Steelers will be firing on all cylinders in all three phases and capable of beating just about anybody on any given Sunday.
