Early in Sunday night's tilt with the New York Jets, Russell Wilson looked like a quarterback who hadn't played a lick of competitive football since last Christmas Eve. The former eight-time Pro Bowler, however, settled in and hit some deep shots, pushing the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 37-15 win.
"I thought he was excellent," head coach Mike Tomlin said of Wilson. "I thought he got better as the game went on, but I'm not surprised by that. It's been a while since he played some ball, but I thought he settled in, knocked the rust off and distributed the ball around and played well."
The boo-birds were out early from the hometown crowd as Wilson spiked a few early passes into the turf. After an opening drive field goal, Pittsburgh went three-and-out on three consecutive drives. Some fans even began to chant for Justin Fields.
However, a Beanie Bishop Jr. interception turned into a late first-half touchdown settled Wilson, and the offense marched up and down the field from there, scoring on its final five possessions of the game, including four TDs.
"First of all, I really believe in being neutral," Wilson said when asked about the adverse reaction early from the crowd. "Not being too high, not being too low. … Coming into this game, we had a couple things early that we could've had. I felt like it was playoff baseball in the sense I started 0 for 2, but felt like I was gonna get hot. I kept telling coach, I'm gonna get hot here. And sure enough we did."
Wilson generated 264 pass yards, two pass touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 109.0 passer rating in Week 7 while adding a rushing score. It marked the most pass yards by a player in their Steelers debut, breaking Earl Morrall's record of 249 in Week 1, 1957.
Wilson had a higher passer rating in Week 7 (109.0) than Fields did in any of his six starts in 2024 (Fields' highest was 104.0 in Week 4 at IND).
"The reality is there's so much more out there, Wilson said. "That's the good news. There's so much more out there, and we'll get better as we go. We're gonna keep working. There's a lot more football left, but to be where we are is a good place."
The inaccuracy scuttled the Steelers offense early and led to the call for the early hook. But Tomlin stuck with the 35-year-old, and it paid off. Wilson hit several deep shots to George Pickens, which helped open up a previously restricted offense. His touch and ability to get through his progression improved the Steelers' passing attack from what we saw early in the season, particularly in the red zone.
"I think throwing that first touchdown to George was the moment I was like, alright, there's gonna be a lot more of these I believe," Wilson said. "Sometimes it takes the first home run, that first double off the wall, whatever it may be. Obviously it's October, so I'm talking baseball, but I just think when you put all the hard work in and guys are doing the work, at some point it's gonna turn in your favor, and it did tonight."
The performance wasn't wholly unlike some of Wilson's best games last season in Denver. If he hits those 50/50 sideline balls to Pickens, the Steelers offense will be dangerous. In the games they miss, it could be a slog. On Sunday night, it worked exceedingly well.
The 37 points put up was the most by a Pittsburgh squad since Week 11, 2021, when Ben Roethlisberger was under center (41-37 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers).
