The Pittsburgh Steelers lost their fourth straight game on Saturday night. It was a close affair, but once again, Pittsburgh was unable to get the job done when it mattered most. This one was especially frustrating since the Steelers had such a good chance to come out victorious. Russell Wilson got the ball back late in the fourth quarter, needing a field goal to beat the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Steelers trailed 19-17. With their ultimate weapon, Chris Boswell, on the sideline, all Russell Wilson needed to do was get the offense into field goal range and allow Boswell to kick them into the fifth seed in the AFC. Unfortunately, the drive went about as bad as it could have. Wilson made several mistakes, and the unit’s feeble attempt to move the ball reeked of their misfortune over the past month.
Fox Sports’ Nick Wright wasn’t happy with what he saw from Russell Wilson, to say the least. On First Things First on Tuesday, Wright had some harsh criticism for the veteran quarterback.
“The two-minute drill Russell Wilson ran against the Bengals on Saturday night was worse than you’ll see from any rookie quarterback all year,” Wright said. “It was every wrong thing you can do as far as the check-down that gets you no yards but kills you on the clock. And the run, that I still don’t understand… All of it was awful.”
It’s harsh criticism from Wright, but he’s not wrong.
This is the check-down that Wright is referring to. This was on the first play of the drive. The Steelers had one timeout, and there was 1:51 remaining in the game. Here, Russell Wilson sees nothing open up down the field and reverts to his check-down, RB Najee Harris. Clearly, that was the wrong decision. As soon as Harris catches the ball, two defenders close in on him. He ends up losing two yards, and the Steelers don’t get another play off until the 1:30 mark.
Throwing the ball at Harris’ feet or simply out of bounds would have been the right decision. That wasn’t the only mistake Wilson made, though.
Thanks to TE Pat Freiermuth, Pittsburgh moved the chains a few plays later. On first and 10, with 46 seconds on the clock, Wilson scrambles out of the pocket and, for some reason, tries to pick up yards on the ground.
You’ll rarely fault your quarterback for being aggressive like this, but this came at the wrong time. Instead of saving time and throwing the ball away, Wilson runs for a few yards and gets tackled in bounds. The Steelers didn’t snap the ball again until the 25-second mark. That’s a total of 21 seconds lost on a four-yard scramble.
As Wright alludes to, these are mistakes rookie quarterbacks tend to make. Certainly not the veterans brought in to win in these crunch-time scenarios like Russell Wilson was.
