Oliver Connolly 

Denver paid Russell Wilson $84m to go away. Now he could be heading for a title

The quarterback was on the scrapheap after a humiliating time with the Broncos. But he has been revived under Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh
  
  

Russell Wilson celebrates as he walks off the field after his team's victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Russell Wilson celebrates as he walks off the field after his team's victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. Photograph: Jeff Dean/AP

In a lot of universes, Russell Wilson’s story is over. Sean Payton and the Broncos were down enough on him at the end of last season, that they paid the quarterback $85m to go away.

On Sunday, Wilson led the Steelers to a 44-38 win over the Bengals, roasting Cincinnati’s porous defense for 414 yards, the second-most passing yards in a game of his career. He finished with three touchdowns and one interception, that sole turnover coming after a botched call.

After being left on the scrapheap this offseason, Wilson has led the Steelers to a 5-1 record as a starter, putting them in first place in a competitive AFC North. It feels fitting that with Wilson’s best performance in years, he also secured Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin’s 18th successive season with a non-losing record.

Tomlin was the lone believer when the rest of the league bailed on the quarterback. Wilson probably heard the talk. Whereas his athleticism had been enough to overcome deficiencies earlier in his career, that had now faded. In Denver, he had become an immobile, inaccurate passer. In short: he was no longer a quarterback you could win with.

With Denver paying the bulk of his salary this season, Wilson was available, essentially, for free. Teams only needed to commit to the league’s minimum salary to bring in the 36-year-old. But Wilson was a distant second option behind Kirk Cousins in free agency, and most quarterback-needy teams instead turned to the draft.

Even Tomlin hedged his bets, sanctioning a trade for Justin Fields from the Bears after signing Wilson to a one-year contract in free agency. Shortly before the opening week of the season, Wilson sustained a calf injury that kept him out for six weeks. Fields led the Steelers to a winning record, showing just enough that Tomlin could have justified continuing to roll with the younger of his two offseason reclamation projects.

But with no one watching, Wilson fought for his career, showing enough in practice that Tomlin felt comfortable pulling Fields out of a winning lineup. The early returns were scattershot, but Wilson now looks back to his vintage best. When he walked off the field in Cincinnati on Sunday, Tomlin was waiting outside the locker room to greet him. “What’s up, old man?” Tomlin said as he embraced his quarterback.

For the first time since Ben Roethlisberger retired, the Steelers have a legitimate shot at competing for a Super Bowl. They are winning with an old-school formula. They run the ball. Their offensive line is physical. They hit a few chunk plays a game, relying on George Pickens to manufacture shots in the passing game. Their pass-rush is relentless, with unsung gems like Nick Herbig and Larry Ogunjobi often outplaying the superstars. Together, they have formed the best four-man pass-rush in the NFL, helping to cover up a faulty secondary.

Tomlin has produced one of the best coaching jobs of his career. But he surely recognizes his team will only go as deep in the playoffs as Wilson can take them. It was only two years ago that Wilson had fallen from a potential future Hall of Famer to a laughing stock. But in Pittsburgh, he’s been slotted into his old Seattle role: relying on the run game, keeping the offense on schedule, limiting turnovers, creating a few off-script plays a game and letting the defensive playmakers prove to be the difference.

Wilson fought against that profile for a while. Whereas the coaching staff in Seattle looked at Wilson as a cog in a championship machine, Wilson looked in the mirror and saw Peyton Manning. He ditched Seattle for Denver, hoping for more of everything. More yards, touchdowns, control of the offense, accolades and respect.

But it was a farce, with the franchise effectively running the quarterback out of Denver. With his career in freefall, Tomlin tossed Wilson a career lifeline. Still: Even the coach must be a touch surprised by the results.

It’s not just what Wilson is doing; it’s how. He is punishing defensive mistakes. He is hitting downfield throws, outside the numbers, at a sky-high clip. What separated Wilson from the pack in Seattle was that he hit atypical throws at a league-leading rate. You know the throw: a deep, arcing moonshot along the sideline. With the Broncos, Wilson’s deep ball vanished. With the Steelers, he’s back to his best. He leads all qualified quarterbacks in Completion Percentage Over Expectation on attempts of 10 air yards or more this season (+15.7%).

Wilson has shown a stronger feel for what a game requires, too. His freelancing is less frequent these days, but it’s always there, simmering away in the background if required. Against the Bengals, what was required was ripping apart zone coverages. Cincinnati sagged off Pittsburgh’s receiving corps, hoping to force Wilson to hold the ball long enough that the pass-rush could come screaming home.

Wilson in Denver would have acquiesced. He would have gone big play hunting, betting that he could outrun the pass-rush before uncorking throws down the field. He would have wanted to prove he was a blue-chip creator, closer to Patrick Mahomes than Brock Purdy. The offense would have bogged down as Wilson bounced around trying to create. But Wilson in Pittsburgh is comfortable taking what the defense offers, sticking to the system and churning out scoring drives. On Sunday, he sped up his delivery, getting the ball out early to allow his receivers to create after the catch. In the first half, Wilson’s average depth of target was three yards, with 67% of his 257 yards coming after the catch. When the Bengals adjusted their approach in the second half, Wilson pivoted, attacking deeper down the field.

There are still things to nitpick about Wilson’s game, flaws that could be exposed in a close postseason matchup. But he has offset some of his traditional shortcomings – and has proven deft enough to manage close games. He is, once again, a winning quarterback.

Wilson moved to Denver seeking respect. In Pittsburgh, he has found vindication.

MVP of the week

Jayden Daniels, quarterback, Washington Commanders. So much for Kliff Kingsbury’s offense being found out in the second half of the season. The Commanders raced past the Titans 42-19, jumping out to a 21-0 lead before Tennessee had even run 10 plays. By the time Washington had a four-score lead, the Titans only had 24 yards of offense.

It was an important rebound game for Daniels. After the first tricky stretch of his career, Daniels put together the most mature performance of his rookie season. He diced up the Titans’ defense from the pocket, putting together a faultless first half in which he completed 14 of his 15 pass attempts for 105 yards, throwing two touchdowns with no interceptions while ripping off a succession of tight-window throws.

More importantly, Daniels showed he is refining his craft as a runner. He is learning to pick his spots, understanding when to slide, and when to embrace contact. Washington’s offense has faltered this season when Daniels has either been injured or limited as a rushing threat. When healthy, upright and able to scamper away from the opposing pass rush, Daniels has torched opposing defenses.

Video of the week

It’s always a blast when linemen get involved in the scoring. But Sunday was a historic day for the Thicc Six Movement: Seahawks defensive lineman Leonard Williams had the longest return touchdown from a player weighing 300lbs this millennium.

Trailing 21-7 to the New York Jets, Williams dropped from his position as a nose tackle out into coverage. The 300lber hauled in the interception at Seattle’s nine-yard line, made a would-be tackler miss and then ran 109.5 yards for the score, maxing out at 17.8 mph on his return. Again, this man is 300lbs!

Williams’ pick-six helped swing the game against his former team, turning a potential three-score deficit into a one-score game. Despite a snafu-filled performance, the Seahawks pipped the Jets 26-21, lifting them to the top spot in the NFC West.

Stat of the week

70.3%. That’s Justin Tucker’s field-goal percentage this season as his miserable campaign continued against the Eagles. Tucker missed an extra point, a 47-yard field goal and a 53-yard field goal in the Ravens’ 24-19 defeat to the Eagles. He is 19-of-27 for the season, and time is running out for one of the league’s all-time greats.

The speed of Tucker’s decline is stunning. He was the best kicker in the league for 12 seasons. Now, though, it looks like he has the yips. There is still plenty of velocity on the ball, but his accuracy has vanished. On Sunday, Tucker missed as many or more kicks as he missed in 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2019, or 2021. And it’s not just that he’s fallen below his own lofty standards, he’s become one of the least accurate kickers in recent history: 602 kickers have attempted 25-plus field goals in a season since 2000, Tucker’s 2024 season ranks 576th in made field-goal percentage.

Baltimore cannot contend with such an unreliable kicker. It was unfathomable before the start of the season, but to have a shot at winning a championship, the Ravens need to move on from Tucker.

Elsewhere around the league

  • Trevor Lawrence was back into the Jaguars’ lineup against the Texans on Sunday after missing the team’s previous two games with a shoulder injury. But Lawrence left the game in the second quarter after a vicious hit from Houston linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair. The linebacker hit a defenseless Lawrence in the head and neck area as the Jags quarterback attempted to slide, the exact kind of tackle the league has tried to legislate out of the game. Lawrence’s head hit the turf and the quarterback appeared to have a “fencing” response, which sparked an on-field melee. Al-Shaair, who has a reputation for dirty hits, was ejected from the game, while Lawrence was ruled out with a head injury.

  • Williams’ pick-six was a highlight for the Seahawks, but the franchise’s special teams dropped one of the worst performances of any unit this season. In the first half alone, Seattle’s special teams fumbled two kick returns, conceded a 99-yard kick return touchdown, had an extra point blocked and muffed a kick. Somehow, the Jets found a way to lose the game despite consistently being gifted prime real estate. In a season filled with Jets-ness, it doesn’t get more Jets-y than that.

  • A hat-tip to Colts head coach Shane Steichen, who played for the win while down one-point late against the Patriots. With 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Steichen opted for a two-point try rather than kicking an extra point to tie the game. The Bucs and Commanders have played for ties in similar situations this season, with both losing in overtime. Steichen recognized that the strength of his team is the quarterback run game, and so the coach put the ball in Anthony Richardson’s hands on a win-or-lose play. Richardson converted on a quarterback keeper to give the Colts a 25-24 lead in the final seconds of the game.

  • On the flip side of the Steichen call was Jerod Mayo. The New England head coach called for a 68-yard field goal from kicker Joey Slye to try to pinch a last-second win rather than attempting a Hail Mary. Slye’s kick was accurate but fell just short. Had it been completed, the kick would have broken the record for the longest field goal in league history. After the game, Mayo said he was “unsure” of the odds of going for a record-breaking kick versus a Hail Mary. Given a 68-yarder has never been hit, the odds were … not good. As for Hail Marys, ask the Bears how those can go.

  • Is it time to put Kirk Cousins on official Washed Watch™? He threw four interceptions in a 17-13 defeat to the Chargers, including two grizzly picks that helped tilt the game in LA’s favor: one an inexplicable pick-six and the other a baffling decision in the red zone. Cousins’ arm strength has eroded to the point where he can no longer fizz in throws against tight coverage. When the offensive design springs a receiver free, Cousins is slick enough to get the ball out on time. But in physical contests, when Cousins needs to throw his receivers open, he is unable to thread the needle. In his last three games, Cousins has failed to throw a touchdown and has turned the ball over 10 times. The Falcons are on a three-game losing streak and have a negative point differential. Even though they’re still in the playoff hunt, it’s time for the team to see what they have in first-round pick Michael Penix Jr.

  • How good is Josh Allen? He threw and caught this touchdown pass in the Bills’ snowy victory over the 49ers, which clinched Buffalo the AFC East for a fifth-straight season:

 

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