The boos rained down from the restless crowd at Acrisure Stadium as Russell Wilson and the Pittsburgh Steelers offense trudged off the field following their third straight three-and-out early in the second quarter of Monday night’s game against the New York Jets. The chants for backup quarterback Justin Fields made it clear: the fans’ patience with Wilson’s inaccuracy and subpar play had run out.
Fast forward two hours and 34 unanswered points later, and those same fans were singing a very different tune. Wilson orchestrated a stunning turnaround, setting franchise records for passing yards and points scored in a debut as he led the Steelers to a dominant 37-15 victory in primetime. The 9-time Pro Bowler finished with 264 passing yards and three total touchdowns, shaking off a rusty start to complete 14 of 23 attempts for 245 yards in the final three quarters.
Wilson’s Rocky Beginning
Things looked bleak for Wilson early on. He completed just 2 of his first 6 passes for 19 yards in the opening quarter as the Steelers went 0-for-3 on third downs. Underthrown balls bounced to the turf and others were haphazardly thrown away under pressure from the Jets’ pass rush. The crowd’s displeasure was palpable, with loud boos and calls for Fields to take over.
“I really believe in being neutral, not being too high, not being too low,” Wilson said of his mentality amid the early struggles. “My old mental coach who passed away a couple years ago, he used to always say, ‘Stay the course.’ And I think coming into this game, we had a couple of things early that we could have had. I felt like it was playoff baseball, in the sense of I started off over 0-for-2, but felt like I was going to get hot. I kept telling coach, ‘Hey, I’m going to get hot here.’ And sure enough we did. We did a great job.”
The Turning Point
Wilson pointed to his 27-second touchdown connection with wide receiver George Pickens just before halftime as the moment everything clicked. “Throwing that first touchdown to George was the moment I was like, ‘Alright, there’s going to be a lot more of these,'” he reflected. “I believe just sometimes it takes that first home run, that first double off the wall, whatever it may be.”
And he was right. Wilson found the end zone twice more in the second half, once on a 1-yard quarterback sneak and again on a 4-yard strike to veteran wideout Van Jefferson for his first score of the year. After starting 1-for-3 on deep passes, Wilson got hot, completing 5 of his final 6 attempts of 10-plus air yards for 168 yards and a touchdown.
Silencing the QB Controversy
Head coach Mike Tomlin made waves by electing to start Wilson over Fields, who went 4-2 in six starts while the veteran recovered from a calf injury suffered in training camp. But Tomlin stood by his “well-compensated” decision after the game, and Wilson downplayed any notion of a divided locker room:
“We are in a tremendous situation where we are,” said Wilson. “I think there’s a lot of outside noise that makes it seem like it’s a negative thing and this rivalry internal and it’s not, man, we just want to win. That’s what we’re focused on.
I got to give Justin Fields credit man, just all the things that he was able to do, how great he’s been playing, man, he inspires me every day. He’s a tremendous quarterback, he’s a franchise quarterback, he’s a leader. He’s got all the intangibles and whatever I can give to him and show him and just be around him, that’s part of my job.
I think that we’re just having fun winning. We’re having fun playing ball. Coach Tomlin believes in all of us, and he does a tremendous job. And this guy, he’s a tremendous football coach, and we trust him, and we know who he is and he’s very transparent in everything else with us too.
We just love winning. We just love being a part of the process.”
With their long-awaited franchise quarterback now under center and playing like his vintage self, the Steelers and their fans have plenty of reason to believe many more wins are on the way. Wilson’s debut was a resounding success, one that solidified his status as the unquestioned leader in Pittsburgh and has the team thinking big as they charge forward.
