PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It was a gamble. You’ve got a 4-2 football team coming off it’s biggest offensive output of the season and you switch the quarterbacks. Mike Tomlin made the gamble and it paid off in a 37-15 win.
Early on, those in the ‘keep Justin Fields camp’ were letting all know on social media. There were pockets of boos in the stadium after a trio of three-and-outs following an opening drive field goal.
But then, Wilson made it pay off. It was a momentum changing play as Steelers rookie defensive back Beanie Bishop intercepted an Aaron Rodgers pass with 1:15 to play in the half. Wilson got the ball at the Steelers 46, hit Van Jefferson for 11 yards, was helped by a pass interference call where he gave George Pickens a chance to make a play. He finished it with an 11-yard touchdown to Pickens and the lead cut to two at half.
“I kept telling Coach, hey, I'm going to get hot here and sure enough we did,” Wilson said. “We did a great job. The guys did a tremendous job up front giving me enough time to make throws. Guys made plays down the field, and I think it's just the love of the game, you know. I played so many games and you know that every game is different. Every game has its own story, and every game has different moments in it, and you catch the wave and once you find it, you don't let go.”
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Wilson would finish 16 of 29 for 264 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The one to Pickens and then one early in the fourth quarter to Van Jefferson to make it a two-score game.
“You know, I thought he was excellent,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. “I thought he got better as the game went on. 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.”
“We know what Russ can bring to the table,” said tight end Pat Freiermuth. “It’s the first time since playing since the preseason game. It was great to see him fight through that adversity and get us back on track.”
“I think the biggest thing is just knowing who you are, knowing the belief you have in yourself and knowing also, too, it's my first time back and I was like okay, I'm starting to feel it again,” Wilson said. “Here we go.”
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“It's been a while. It's been six weeks from really playing and I'm just grateful to my teammates, man. I just think about the moments, just the moments being locked in the moment of time of saying this is my first game here, man, how special is this? I thank God for it, so that was a blessing itself.”
Pickens said Wilson recognized and attacked the one-on-one situations he was in. He took those opportunities and Pickens had his second, 100-yard game of the season finishing with five catches for 111 yards and that first TD.
“He’s always calm, cool, collected ever since he got here,” said tailback Najee Harris. “I talk to Russ almost every day, so I know Russ. I know that when things were shaky in the first half, I knew that he was still going to be calm and collected and just pull it all together because that’s just the leader he is.”
“There's so much more out there and we'll get better as we go,” Wilson said. “We're going to keep working. There's a lot more football left, but to be where we are is a good place.”
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