Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson is known for his moon ball and sideline throws. If he sees 1v1 coverage to the outside, he’s taking his shot. But a new study shows Wilson ranked the NFL’s best in the area of the field he’s known for the least. The middle.
In a chart shared by The 33rd Team, Wilson had the best EPA between the numbers from 20-30 yards downfield.
It’s a hyper-specific part of the field and the chart doesn’t show how many attempts Wilson or any of these quarterbacks had in 2024. In our final Steelers passing chart courtesy of our Clayton Eckert, Wilson completed 83.3 percent of his throws between the numbers overall, though that accounts for all levels of the field and not just 20-30 yards. His data point chart is more specific and highlights the lack of sample size here with what appears to be just three attempts during the regular season.
One of those appears to be Wilson’s touchdown pass to WR Calvin Austin III in a loss to the Cleveland Browns, hitting him down the seam in the snow.
A small sample size with a couple of big plays was enough to push the needle in Wilson’s favor. Though it’s only a few attempts, it highlights that Wilson can throw the ball over the middle when asked to and isn’t as limited as some believe.
Still, his bread and butter is pushing the ball down the sidelines. It helped that’s how Pittsburgh was built with WR George Pickens at his best on go-balls downfield while the Steelers didn’t have as much firepower over the middle. Austin made plays but TE Pat Freiermuth was limited to running short routes and had a low depth of target, disappointingly not used down the seam as much as other seasons.
Though there isn’t much of a takeaway, it’s interesting to see the AFC North represent the middle of the field. The Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow led in-between-the-numbers throws of 30-plus yards while the Baltimore Ravens Lamar Jackson led from 10-20.
