If you ask Bill Belichick, one of the keys to Sunday for the Pittsburgh Steelers is going to be generating explosive plays in the passing game against the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s not going to be easy with WR George Pickens out with a hamstring injury, but if anybody can make it happen, it’s QB Russell Wilson.
“Nobody better throwing ’em than Russell Wilson,” Belichick said via his Coach podcast on Spotify. “Guy’s got a great touch on the deep ball.”
It’s been a signature trait of Wilson’s for over a decade in the league now to the point where there’s a name for his deep passes. The “moon balls” have a lot of arch and hangtime, but they always seem to drop right in the basket where the receiver can catch them in stride. The statistics back up his excellence in the deep passing game this season.
Wilson is third in the league in percentage of his attempts that travel over 20 air yards. His 15.5 percent is only behind Green Bay Packers QB Jordan Love and Indianapolis Colts QB Anthony Richardson. Despite playing in roughly half the games as most other quarterbacks, Wilson is 23rd in the league in deep passing attempts over 20 yards. His 33 attempts are more than the Steelers’ Sunday opponent Jalen Hurts’ deep attempts, for example.
It’s one thing to attempt a lot of deep passes, but Wilson is creating explosive plays at a rate that far exceeds any other NFL quarterback.
According to Steven Patton on X, Wilson is in a category of his own.
The Eagles have done a pretty good job of keeping a lid on things during their nine-game winning streak, but there is a lot of youth in that secondary, players who haven’t faced a deep passer the caliber of Wilson.
Taking into account all explosive plays, Wilson has generated 34 of them this season for 989 yards and six touchdowns.
When you get this type of praise from Bill Belichick, who has prepared for a Russell Wilson-led offense in the Super Bowl, it’s worth mentioning. Calvin Austin III, Van Jefferson, Mike Williams and Scotty Miller are going to need to step up in Pickens’ absence if the Steelers want to end the Philly curse with their first win in the city since 1965.
