The Pittsburgh Steelers have leaned on Russell Wilson and his experience throughout this season. Today, they hope once again to lean on his prior experience playing the Kansas City Chiefs. The Steelers haven’t faced Patrick Mahomes since the 2021 season, but Wilson was in their division for the past two years. Speaking to reporters earlier this week, he acknowledged that history is something he can lean on.
“Yeah, for sure. I think you definitely study what you’ve done. We beat them last year”, Wilson said of the Broncos’ success against the Chiefs in 2023, via transcript. “I think that I was fortunate to throw a few touchdowns on them, and they’re really good defense. They don’t give up much. They do a really good job. They’re one of the top defenses in the National Football League, but we’ve got to be ready to play our best game, and we respect who they are and what they’ve done”.
Russell Wilson went 1-1 against the Chiefs last season, including a 24-9 win. Patrick Mahomes went 24-of-38 for 240 yards in that Chiefs loss but threw two interceptions with no touchdowns. He also lost a fumble, and it’s hard to win games when your quarterback turns the ball over three times. Wilson would know—he turned the ball over twice for the Steelers on Saturday.
The Chiefs, in fact, turned the ball over five times in that game, which is about the only way you could hold Mahomes to single digits. Wilson went 12-of-19 for 114 yards but threw three touchdown passes. He fumbled twice in that game, losing one. While Wilson has a low interception rate with the Steelers this season, he has lost some fumbles.
One thing that Wilson can help with is his familiarity with Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo’s defense. The Steelers, again, have not faced him for a few years, but Wilson has prepped for him four times. He is 1-3 against that defense, granted, but not without putting up some points. In his first loss to Mahomes, the Broncos put up 28 points.
“I have so much regard for [Spagnuolo]”, Wilson said of the Chiefs’ DC. “He just does a really good job of mixing it up and challenging the defense to blitz us a lot and to do different things. So, it makes it really challenging for us as an offense, and we’ve got to do our job”. The Steelers quarterback mentioned a game with the Seahawks, but Spagnuolo wasn’t with the Chiefs at the time.
Spagnuolo has been at it for a long time, but he still gets the job done. The Chiefs rank third in the NFL in scoring defense and yards allowed. Notably, they have the third-ranked rushing defense, so the Steelers will need to get Russell Wilson’s best today.
