Steelers 4 Downs: Russell Wilson throws downfield often, effectively
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1. Moon man
Russell Wilson has quickly become known to Pittsburgh Steelers fans for his “moon ball.” If it seems every week Wilson is dropping his trademark high-arcing pass into the arms of a receiver deep down the field, it’s because he is. In each of Wilson’s six starts, he completed at least one pass that gained 34 or more yards.
On passes of at least 10 yards during last week’s win in Cincinnati, Wilson went 8 for 9 for 205 yards and two touchdowns. According to Next Gen Stats, Wilson’s plus-34.8% completion percentage above expected on such downfield passes bumped up his season rate to plus-15.7% — best among all qualified NFL quarterbacks in 2024.
Per Pro Football Focus, Wilson’s 53.6% completion rate on passes thrown at least 20 yards downfield is best in the league this season. Only three passers in the league attempt such deep throws at such a high rate — 15% of Wilson’s passes are thrown at least 20 yards downfield.
According to Sharp Football Analysis, since Wilson took over, 14.5% of the Steelers’ passes have gained 20 or more yards — the highest rate in the NFL over that seven-week span.
Incidentally — maybe it’s how the height of the passes come into play — but Wilson’s deep balls, on average, are released much more quickly than his contemporaries. Wilson’s average time to throw of 2.62 seconds on passes 10-plus yards downfield is quickest in the league. For comparison’s sake, teammate Justin Fields averaged 3.55 seconds when he threw that deep during his tenure as Steelers starting quarterback earlier this season.
2. Lots more points
Wilson is a primary — but not sole — driver behind a phenomenon in which Steelers games have gone from low-scoring “rock fights” into high-scoring shootouts.
Whereas from Weeks 1-6 with Fields as quarterback, Steelers games (both teams) averaged 35.0 points per game, since Wilson took over, Steelers games have featured an average of 51.7 points. That’s the fourth-most in the NFL over that time span, according to Sharp Football Analysis.
Of course while the Steelers offense improving from 20.6 points per game with Fields to 28.7 with Wilson as the starter, the Steelers defense is simultaneously allowing more points, too: 14.3 opponent ppg to 23.0.
3. Up the middle
Don’t run it up the middle against the Steelers defense.
It’s an imperfect science, but the NFL’s official play-by-play designates each rushing play by direction. And when it comes to those labeled “up the middle,” the Steelers have the lowest opponent yard per carry yielded at 2.52. Opponents have 67 rushing attempts up the middle — more than a quarter of the total rushes against the Steelers and the most of any “direction” against them.
Interestingly, on runs to the left — be it left guard, left tackle or left end — opponents average more than twice as many yards per carry than when they run up the middle against the Steelers.
4. Fast sack
Nick Herbig’s fourth-quarter strip sack that resulted in Payton Wilson’s touchdown last week was the “third-fastest” sack in the NFL this season. According to Next Gen Stats, Herbig needed just 2.31 seconds from snap to force the fumble of Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
It was the fastest sack across the NFL in Week 13, the fastest of Herbig’s career and tied for the eighth-fastest sack by any player over the past two seasons.
It was also the second week in a row that Herbig used his “quick-twitch” to tackle an opposing quarterback — he used 2.61 seconds to bring down the Browns’ Jameis Winston on Nov. 21. That was the 18th-fastest sack in the league this season. Herbig is the only player to have two of the 18 fastest 2024 NFL sacks.