The Pittsburgh Steelers got into a shootout against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. Most people would have said that style of game favored the Bengals. But QB Russell Wilson and the Steelers’ offense came out on top, 44-38.
If someone had told you that the Steelers put up 44 points, what would you have thought happened? Would you have expected that Wilson was dropping back and launching so many moon balls that NASA wanted to put him on staff?
If so, you’d be wrong.
“Russell Wilson just orchestrated things beautifully,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo said Monday on the North Shore Drive podcast. “He hit [George] Pickens for a deep ball down the sideline, but this wasn’t his typical game where it’s feast or famine, deep balls or nothing. This game, he picked apart a bad Bengals defense. This is a game where they were pretty much clicking on all cylinders.”
Wilson finished the game with a 76.3 completion percentage on 38 passing attempts for 414 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. It was one of Wilson’s best regular-season games of his career and one of the best performances by a Steelers quarterback in recent memory.
Yes, that interception was a pick-six that put the Steelers down by a touchdown early. But you can certainly argue that it should have been a defensive penalty.
But what really stood out was that Wilson played an incredibly efficient game. That 76.3 completion percentage is Wilson’s season high. He also had a season-high 10.9 yards per attempt.
And Wilson only attempted two passes over 20 yards. One was the aforementioned deep ball down the right sideline to WR George Pickens. The other was the touchdown to WR Calvin Austin III.
Russell Wilson passing chart versus Bengals 👀 #Steelers #NFL pic.twitter.com/uXJRm2hHUQ
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) December 1, 2024
Russell Wilson was absolutely in command of the Steelers’ offense on Sunday. And he didn’t need to unleash his patented moon ball over and over again to put up the big win. That’s a great sign for Wilson and the Steelers the rest of the season.
