This time, there was no Daniels Miracle Victory. Yes, in dramatic fashion, the first catch for Mike Williams in a Steelers uniform was a gorgeous, over-the-shoulder touchdown to give Pittsburgh a 28-27 lead with 2:22 left in the game. But the most significant message e-mailed to the rest of the NFL in Sunday’s win at Washington wasn’t that Russell Wilson is back and deadlier than he was in Seattle. It was that he’s also older and wiser.
The Williams catch was important, but Pittsburgh (7-2) didn’t win until the Commanders burned their final timeout and Wilson put his hands under center. The Steelers knew Washington was missing veterans on its defensive line and, on fourth-and-1 with 1:02 remaining, got the Commanders to jump offsides. Ballgame.
“Everything was going Washington’s way, and then the veteran quarterback does his thing,” said insider Peter Schrager on Good Morning Football. “The touchdown pass to Williams was one thing, but I want to go to the snap at the end.”
“Russell Wilson gets to that line and he’s done this a thousand times before. ‘I’m going to draw this guy offsides.’ The reaction of Russ as he knows, and everyone in Pittsburgh knows…Russ knows! Yeah! Fist bump. Points to the sideline. That’s the veteran leader. And it’s not the deep passes, not the rainbow plays. It’s that…Mike Tomlin: ‘Got ‘em.’”
Tomlin’s also got him, as in Wilson. Since Ben Roethlisberger retired after the 2021 season, the Steelers went through a rough stretch of four starting quarterbacks: Mitchell Trubisky, Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph and Justin Fields. And while Fields was 4-2, no one is continuing to claim Tomlin made the wrong decision in boldly benching Fields three games ago. Since that call, Wilson is 3-0 with a 105.9 passer rating, six touchdown passes and one interception.
And Wilson has elevated Pittsburgh to the level where highlights don’t need to be official plays.
“It was just the cerebral stuff,” Schrager said. “And that’s why Russell Wilson is the difference-maker in Pittsburgh this year, and why they might have a special team in Pittsburgh, despite a lot of doubters going into this entire situation.”
One situation in which the Steelers haven’t found themselves in 2024 is a division game. They get their first AFC North contest this week when they host Baltimore (7-3) in a battle for first place. Six of Pittsburgh’s final eight games are against AFC North foes.
Washington (7-3) gets little time to regroup after its first setback since a loss to the Ravens on Oct. 13. The Commanders are on a short week, needing to travel to Philadelphia (7-2) on Thursday Night Football (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video) in another battle for first place. The Eagles have won five straight. Only Kansas City and Detroit have longer active streaks entering Week 11.
For more information on the Steelers and Commanders, visit the Pittsburgh and Washington team pages at ProFootballPost.com.
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