Russell Wilson wins in his debut with the Pittsburgh Steelers

PITTSBURGH – As the offense left the field after its third straight three-pointer early in the second quarter Monday night, loud boos rained down from a listless Acrisure Stadium crowd. And if there was any doubt about the primary target of the vocal frustration, the chants for Justin Fields made it clear: Russell Wilson's subpar play and inaccuracy were the cause of the crowd's dissatisfaction.

However, two hours and 34 unanswered points later, the crowd was chanting to Biz Markie and Mac Miller as Wilson quarterbacked the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 37-15 victory over the New York Jets in prime time, setting a franchise record for pass yards and scored points put up in a debut along the way.

Wilson finished his injury-impaired regular-season debut with 264 passing yards and three total touchdowns. And after completing just two of six attempts for 19 yards in the first quarter – including a 15-yard completion to Darnell Washington on his first attempt – Wilson completed 14 of 23 attempts for 245 yards in the final three quarters, increasing the total his completion percentage ranged from 33% in the first frame to 60% in the final three.

“I thought he was excellent,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “I thought he got better as the game went on. But that doesn't surprise me. It's been a while since he's played the ball, but I thought he settled in, knocked the rust off, distributed the ball and played. “So.”

Wilson, of course, heard the boos early in the game, but he said afterward that his steady mentality helped him recover from a rocky start in which the Steelers went 0 of 3 on third down in the first quarter, as inferior passes bounced off the turf and others were randomly thrown away as the Jets' pass rush grew ever closer.

“I really believe in being neutral, not too high and not too low,” Wilson said. “My old mental coach, who passed away a few years ago, always said, 'Stay the course.' And I think at the start of this game we had a few things that we could have had in the sense that I started 0-2 but I felt like I was going to get it heated up. I kept telling the coach, “Hey, I’m getting hot.” ​​And sure enough, we did it. “I've played so many games and you know that every game is different.” Every game has its own story and every game has different moments and once you find it you catch the wave and don't let it go. And I think the biggest thing is just knowing who you are, knowing what belief you have in yourself and knowing that it was also my first time being back and I was like, Okay, I'll get started to feel it again. Let's go.”

Wilson said he felt it again in that moment, connecting with wide receiver George Pickens for the pair's first touchdowns of the season 27 seconds before halftime.

“The first touchdown against George was the moment where I thought, 'Okay, there's going to be a lot more of this,'” Wilson said. “I think sometimes you just need that first home run, that first double off the wall, whatever it may be. Obviously it's October so I'm talking about baseball, but I just think when you put in all the hard work and guys do the work and eventually it's going to turn in your favor and that was good for us on the night and I I'm excited about our soccer team.

Wilson was right. More scores were to follow. He reached the end zone two more times, once with a one-yard sneak and once with a four-yard throw to wide receiver Van Jefferson, which gave the veteran wide receiver his first score of the season.

“I thought Arthur Smith did a great job of allowing me to let go and get guys open and move guys around and just make great plays,” Wilson said. “I thought he had a great game. He helped me get going. We talked about it earlier, earlier in the week, and at the end of the week he said it might take a second. I never believed that, but it.” We did it and then we found a groove and believed in it.

Wilson also finished the game completing 5 of 6 passes on passes of at least 10 yards, averaging 24.8 yards per attempt on such throws. Wilson also was 3 of 4 for 92 yards and a touchdown when targeting Pickens on long throws. After the game, Pickens, who had 111 yards on five catches, explained what the combination of their skills was: “I located the ball downfield and Russ read ahead to see what coverage he had before he said hike. “

Before the game, Tomlin took over the decision to start Wilson over Justin Fields, who remained 4-2 in six starts while Wilson recovered from the calf injury suffered in training camp. After the win, former NFL wide receiver and Pittsburgh native Brandon Marshall joined Tomlin's press conference and asked the head coach if the decision to start Wilson was his “boldest.”

“That’s why I’m well compensated,” Tomlin said.

And Wilson downplayed the idea of ​​an internal dispute within the organization surrounding the quarterback decision.

“We are in a tremendous situation,” Wilson said. “I think there's a lot of noise from the outside that gives the impression that it's something negative and that this rivalry is internal and that's not the case, man, we just want to win. That’s what we’re concentrating on.”

“I have to give credit to Justin Fields, just everything he could do, how great he played, man, he inspires me every day. … He's a great quarterback, he's a franchise quarterback, he's a …” Leader He's got all the intangibles and everything that I can give him and show him and just be around him, that's part of my job.

“I think we just enjoy winning. We have fun playing ball. … Coach Tomlin believes in all of us and he's doing a great job. And this guy, he's a great football coach, and we trust him, and we know who he is, and with us too, he's very transparent about everything else.

“We just love winning. We just love being part of the process.”