Since stepping into the Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting lineup in Week 7 against the New York Jets, veteran quarterback Russell Wilson has given the Steelers a significant boost.
That all culminated in Week 13 when Wilson lit up the Cincinnati Bengals, throwing for 414 yards and three touchdowns, putting up the second-most yardage in a game in his career.
With Wilson under center, the Steelers’ offense is performing at a high level. It has become a top-10 scoring offense on the season, making the Steelers into a legitimate contender in the AFC. Wilson’s play has answered quite a few questions about him, too, with many wondering coming into the season if he was even a viable NFL starting quarterback or had any sort of good play left in his game.
The answers to those questions have been an emphatic “yes.” For longtime NFL analyst Greg Cosell, Wilson is playing really, really well and has the Steelers’ offense playing at a pretty high level entering their Week 14 matchup against the Cleveland Browns, a team they just played against two weeks ago.
Appearing on the Ross Tucker Podcast Thursday, Cosell highlighted just how good Wilson was against the Browns in the last matchup, which came in a blizzard.
“Even though they lost that game, Wilson was phenomenal on third down against a really difficult defense to play against, ’cause Jim Schwartz is a classic guy that changes the picture from pre-snap to post-snap. And Russell Wilson in that game against Cleveland a couple of weeks ago was 11-for-12 for 194 yards on third down,” Cosell said, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “And he did a really, really good job against that Browns defense. And again, that was the snow game for the fourth quarter was kind of a crazy game. It was even hard to watch on the tape.
“He couldn’t see a lot, but Russell Wilson is playing really, really well. They do a lot with multiple tight ends. They play with two tight ends. They play with three tight ends. They really try to dictate defensively how you have to play, so this offense right now is playing at a pretty high level.”
Against the Browns in Week 12, Wilson was rather good.
He completed 21-of-28 passes for 290 yards and a touchdown in the loss, which are strong numbers considering the second half of the game was a blizzard and hard to truly see. He did have a bad fumble with poor ball security in the pocket while trying to move around, which led to a Browns field goal.
Outside of that, though, Wilson was sharp and a big reason why the Steelers were able to mount a comeback in the game. He connected on a handful of shots down the field, including a terrific pass on a post route to Calvin Austin III for the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. The weather didn’t seem to faze Wilson.
Wilson dialed up some big throws down the field, hitting the likes of Austin, Van Jefferson, and George Pickens on 30-plus-yard gains. He also made some plays off script and made smart decisions with the football, rarely putting it in harm’s way.
His play against the Browns carried over into the shootout win against the Bengals as Wilson cooked all game long. He hit checkdowns that led to chunks of yardage, threw a great pass to Austin for a 23-yard touchdown, and hit George Pickens down the field for a 36-yard gain.
He also made a great play escaping pressure and throwing on the move, finding Pat Freiermuth for a touchdown, and later checked into a play that resulted in a Van Jefferson 43-yard reception. He was at his best last Sunday against the Bengals and answered more questions about the Steelers offensively.
Things are rolling right now, but a tough test is coming on Sunday against the Browns, who have a good defense and a great play caller in Schwartz. Wilson is at another level though. It’ll be exciting to watch.
