The Pittsburgh Steelers have seen impressive results out of their veteran free-agent acquisition, Russell Wilson. In his first three games of the 2024 season, the Steelers have seen consistent, effective offensive output for the first time since the Randy Fichtner era. Wilson himself has seen a career renaissance after a forgettable tenure with the Denver Broncos. There are many factors that play a role in this sudden resurgence. While there are plenty of reasons on the field as to why Wilson has returned to past form, there is also one off-field thing that has contributed.
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Steelers’ Arthur Smith and Russell Wilson during training camp
Mike Sando of The Athletic brought up an issue with Wilson that fans saw a lot of during his time with the Broncos, but haven’t seen with the Steelers.
“I’ve liked how Wilson has fit into the Steelers without any of the fanfare that went along with the Russell Wilson Show late in his Seattle tenure and into his time with the Denver Broncos,” Sando wrote. “We aren’t hearing anything about his mansions or celebrity interactions or any other trappings of stardom.”
Pittsburgh has always been known as a blue-collar city, where people go to work and develop a die-hard passion for the local sports teams, as opposed to flaunting celebrities and money. The Steelers are part of that culture. As opposed to just showing off all the cool things they have, they put their nose down and focus on dominating on the gridiron.
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The Steelers’ offensive line throughout the 2010s was one of the best in the league.
Throughout his time in Denver, Wilson was always on some sort of celebrity news. He was in a bunch of commercials and was always hanging out with someone. As a Super Bowl champion with a world-famous singer for a wife, it’s definitely hard to avoid celebrity interactions, but it seemingly became a distraction for him.
In his first season with the Broncos, fans kept making jokes about the ratio of touchdown passes in the 2022 season to bathrooms in his mansion. There was more talk about how many bathrooms he had than there were highlights of him. Everything during that time frame was about Russell Wilson, the star. There was very little talk about Russell Wilson, the quarterback.
Obviously, Steeler Nation knows about Ciara, as well as plenty of other media outlets that Wilson has been a part of, but that hasn’t been his identity with the Steelers. At the end of the day, he plays football. If he wants to play anywhere near as long as he claims, he has to put the distractions aside and focus on being a quality quarterback. The celebrity meet-ups can come when he has free time in the offseason.
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Steelers’ Mike Tomlin and Russell Wilson on the sideline during a game against the New York Jets in 2024.
Steelers’ On-Field Adjustments To Help Wilson
Obviously, there is more to a career resurgence then taking a break from talking with other famous people in different industries. He still has to get better on the field, and the Steelers have made sure to build this offense to fit Wilson’s strengths. He isn’t the greatest quarterback ever, so he needs plenty of help around him to thrive.
For starters, the Steelers look just like the Seattle Seahawks did when he won a Super Bowl there, as many people have noted. They have a strong defense with a highly effective run game, which allows Wilson to succeed on some of these hard play action fakes. If he can get one-on-one coverage deep downfield with the box being stacked, he will take it all day every day.
It also helps to have physical freaks at receiver. George Pickens is the perfect receiver for Wilson’s moon balls. Just chuck it up to him and see what happens. It also helps to have a speed demon like Calvin Austin III that can blow right by single coverage if given the chance. It helps even more to have a head coach that doesn’t want you gone, as Mike Tomlin has complete faith in his veteran signal-caller, and it has done wonders for this team.
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What do you think about Wilson focusing more on the on-field product, as opposed to the plenty of celebrities that he can hang out with? Let us know in the comments.