Russell Wilson was about to set the Steelers up with 1st and goal in a 7-7 game against the Ravens. While the Steelers have had their number, this would be a tough game to win, and the AFC North was on the line. Wilson wanted to score; instead, he lost the ball, DB Ar’Darius Washington popping it loose.
The Ravens proceeded to march down the field, driving 96 yards in eight plays after the Wilson fumble. It took them just three and a half minutes to go from giving up a touchdown to scoring one. That was the last time the Steelers ever touched the ball with a chance to take the lead.
But it wasn’t the turning point in the game, Steelers HC Mike Tomlin said. After all, the Steelers would later tie the game up at 17, so they evened the playing field. Russell Wilson made a costly mistake, but it didn’t cost them the game. “There’s ebb and flow and momentum in every game. It didn’t feel like it was a lost cause at that point, by any stretch”, Tomlin said, via the Steelers’ website.
Of course, you could argue that it was the pick-six Russell Wilson threw that lost the cause. The Steelers were down 24-17 at the time, and that made it 31-17 in the fourth quarter. The chances of overcoming that deficit against the Ravens were low; they didn’t even make a dent in it.
No, this was not one of the shining moments in the Russell Wilson Renaissance. To be sure, he made some good throws, made all the more impressive by the absence of George Pickens. But that fumble, and that very avoidable interception, were backbreaking.
Maybe the Steelers could have still overcome one, maybe the other, perhaps even both. But they certainly made things way harder. And for a team that has struggled to score at times, especially in the red zone, to turn the ball over at the 4-yard line? That’s backbreaking, and Wilson knows that.
Any good offense needs its quarterback to be the ultimate protector of the football. There is a reason Jameis Winston keeps getting benched, even as a backup, and it’s not because the Browns love Dorian Thompson-Robinson. Russell Wilson is nowhere near there, but that doesn’t take away how devastating those two turnovers were.
The Steelers were coming off an ugly loss but still had a chance to lock up the AFC North. Were it not for Wilson’s turnovers, they could have beaten the Ravens in their own home and spat in their faces. They could have celebrated a division title while Baltimore wondered if it would even make the playoffs.
It doesn’t matter what you call it or how you frame it, whether they were ebbing for flowing, whether causes were lost and when. The Steelers didn’t get what they needed from Russell Wilson when they needed it most. But he doesn’t have to wait long for a chance to redeem himself.
