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Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff WriterOct 29, 2024, 01:37 AM ET
- Previously covered the Kansas City Chiefs for the Kansas City Star and Oklahoma University for the Oklahoman.
PITTSBURGH — Russell Wilson grinned as he sat at the dais following the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ 26-18 win against the New York Giants and considered how to describe the difference between his first and second outings as a Steeler.
“I felt more fluid,” the quarterback said, settling on a descriptor. “I haven’t really missed any games in my lifetime, and you miss five, six games, and you’re just, ‘OK, all right, you got to get your rhythm.’ … Sometimes it’s not easy every possession, especially when you’re going against good teams, and so you just respond. I think the most important thing is just response.”
With 278 yards and a touchdown as he completed 20 of 28 attempts Monday night, Wilson set a franchise record for most passing yards by a Steeler in his first two games with the organization (542), surpassing Earl Morrall’s 504 yards in 1957, per ESPN Research.
“I just thought he didn’t need to warm up to it,” coach Mike Tomlin said of Wilson’s second outing. “A little less rust than the week before, but I’m not surprised by his capabilities.”
Wilson and the offense moved the ball almost seamlessly in their first three possessions, but each time, the drive finished in a field goal. Two would-be touchdown throws to George Pickens were called back and another drive stalled out after back-to-back gains of 20-plus yards. Wilson lamented the two Pickens touchdowns called back, including the second, where the receiver got his right foot down twice but because his left foot didn’t hit after the catch, it was ruled incomplete.
“It’s an interesting rule,” Wilson said. “It’s like, obviously, we thought maybe he had dragged his toe, maybe he got it down. We get the same foot down twice, and it’s clear one and then another one, No. 2, it’s almost like you get a knee down, and it counts as a touchdown. And getting two rights [feet], maybe it should count. But I don’t know.
“… George had a great game. I know obviously he wants those two touchdowns. We all want those — it really would’ve broken out the game early on for us.”
Though his first two TD throws were called back, Wilson eventually found wide receiver Calvin Austin III for a 29-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, marking Austin’s second score of the day after a third-quarter punt return to the house. Wilson’s touchdown to Austin had just a 28.2% completion probability, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, giving the quarterback a league-leading 12 total touchdowns with less than a 30% completion probability since the start of last season.
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“He’s always talking to us, always looking for that big play, that check, that signal, that route, that look or whatever,” Austin said. “He’s always hunting that big play.”
Thanks in large part to Wilson and a relentless run game anchored by Najee Harris and his three straight 100-yard performances, the Steelers managed to record at least 400 yards of offense in consecutive weeks for the first time since the 2018 season, per ESPN Research.
But Wilson cautioned that the Steelers can’t get complacent as they enter their Week 9 bye atop the AFC North with a 6-2 record, the team’s best start since going 8-0 in 2020.
“We’ve got great confidence,” Wilson said. “We haven’t done anything yet. We’re obviously sitting here at 6-2, which is a great thing, but it doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean anything. When we look back at it all, we got to be making sure that we’re staying focused on the next task, and that’s to really take care of our bodies, take care of our minds, enjoy this with your families and all that stuff this bye week.
“Because we’ve got a surge ahead of us that we got to go get, and there’s a lot of great games ahead of us and we’re not going to shy away from them.”
