Just when the defense of the Pittsburgh Steelers needed to make a play in a one-score game, rookie linebacker Payton Wilson came up with a jaw-dropping play downfield in coverage.
Wilson, covering Baltimore Ravens running back Justice Hill on a wheel route out of the backfield, somehow found a way to take the football away in the air from Hill for the game-changing interception, which came just a few plays after Russell Wilson threw an ill-advised pass in the end zone that Ravens CB Marlon Humphrey intercepted.
Take a look at Wilson’s play. Absurd play from the rookie.
In the hotly contested matchup between the Steelers and the Ravens, linebackers are coming up with big plays for the Black and Gold.
Earlier in the game, Patrick Queen stripped tight end Isaiah Likely to force a fumble late in the first half, setting up a Chris Boswell field goal. Then, it was Wilson’s turn to make a play.
Though he lost initially on the route and was in catch-up mode on the play, he never quit, getting his hand in between Hill’s at the catch point. And he never stopped pulling at the ball, eventually making an absurd play for the interception.
A few years ago, another rookie linebacker made an eerily similar play for the Black and Gold, that being Devin Bush.
Take a look.
Pretty interesting how all these years later and another Steelers rookie makes a game-changing play against the Ravens in the heated rivalry.
Heck of an effort from Wilson to make that jaw-dropping play. You don’t see that often. The fact that Wilson made that play is fitting. The young player and the new faces for the Steelers were geared up and ready for the rivalry and made plays in big spots.
Tip of the cap.
