Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson looks to throw against the New York Jets on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium.
According to Fox Sports' Jay Glazer, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin "went Lone Ranger" on the decision to pull the plug on quarterback Justin Fields and replace him with Russell Wilson.
Even though there were a few "Jus-TIN Fie-LDS" chants from the crowd after a sluggish start, Wilson had the folks cheering his name by the end of the game.
Wilson, Beanie Bishop and George Pickens are all front and center in this week's "Feats of Strength" as the Steelers improve to 5-2.
Rookie defensive back Beanie Bishop collected the first two interceptions of his career off New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
"He's a Hall of Fame quarterback," Bishop said of Rodgers. "I've got a lot of respect for that guy. To be able to get not one, but two, of them off of him is crazy."
The first one came down the middle late in the second quarter on a pass intended for Garrett Wilson.
The Steelers turned that pick into a touchdown to pull within two points (15-13) at halftime.
Bishop's second interception was lucky. Wilson got behind him up the sideline. But when Rodgers hit him with a pass, Wilson flubbed it, and it bounced to Bishop, who nearly returned it for a touchdown.
Russell Wilson executed a QB sneak on the first snap after the turnover to give the Steelers a 23-15 advantage.
One thing Russell Wilson's presence seemed to do was accentuate George Pickens' game. Wilson unloaded some deep shots down the field to him. While Pickens had to come back to the ball on a few occasions, Wilson was at least able to put the ball up in spots where his top receiver could make a play with a combat catch.
Also, in the case of one big play in the second quarter, the Steelers were able to draw a pass interference flag on Sauce Gardener.
Perhaps most importantly, the coaching staff seemed willing to let Wilson take shots into any quadrant of the field whenever he liked, as opposed to the restrictions that were apparently on Justin Fields.
Or, maybe just as well said, throws that Fields just wasn't trying.
Pickens ended up with five catches for 111 yards and a touchdown.
It wasn't just Pickens who benefited from Wilson's presence. So did the other much-maligned wide receivers, who had all done very little so far this season with Fields at quarterback.
Van Jefferson caught a touchdown. It was his first of the year and one of just 10 catches on the season.
Calvin Austin also had a 36-yard catch. Tight end Darnell Washington had 36 receiving yards on a career-high four receptions. Pat Freiermuth caught two passes for 51 yards, including this beauty in the third quarter.
In all, Wilson's 16 completions were spread among six players for 264 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, just one sack, an average of 9.4 yards per attempt and a passer rating of 109.0.
The Steelers came into the game with the fourth-best special teams unit in the NFL this season (according to DVOA). The Jets came in at No. 28.
That disparity was evident Sunday night. Dean Lowry blocked a third-quarter field goal attempt.
Meanwhile, Chris Boswell made all seven of his place kicks, the coverage units were solid, and Corliss Waitman's punting was good once again. He dropped three punts inside the 20-yard line, averaged 46 yards per attempt, and had a long of 55 yards.
While the Steelers defense struggled to contain Jets running back Breece Hall catching the ball out of the backfield (six catches, 103 yards), coordinator Teryl Austin's unit was stingy against the run.
The Jets only had 54 yards rushing on 15 attempts. Hall averaged an ugly 3.2 yards per carry.
Meanwhile, Steelers running back Najee Harris had 21 carries for 102 yards and a touchdown.
That's Harris' second straight 100-plus day. As a team, the Steelers put up 149 yards on the ground.
The Steelers defense had some problems early. In the first half, the tackling was poor, particularly on Hall's long catch and run in the second quarter.
The Jets were shut out for the last 35 minutes of the game. Despite nine targets, the vaunted addition of Davante Adams netted just 30 yards on three receptions.
Even though Alex Highsmith got back into the lineup, the Steelers' pass rush didn't get home all that much.
The Steelers only had one sack on the night. It was from Larry Ogunjobi in the first quarter.
That said, the Steelers did have eight quarterback hits. So it's not like Aaron Rodgers was operating completely comfortably.
After the Steelers got some gift calls last week in Las Vegas, very little went their way in terms of officiating on Sunday night.
Ogunjobi was whistled for unnecessary roughness when he threw Hall to the ground in the first quarter.
So, I guess running backs are like quarterbacks now? Or maybe not. Because twice later in the half, Steelers players appeared to be thrown down aggressively with no calls.
Later in that drive, the Steelers were taking the field for a 4th-and-1 when the replay gurus buzzed down to the game officials and said that Allen Lazard had actually picked up the first down on the previous play. That call was made awfully fast for a play that appeared to be very close.
In the second quarter, Minkah Fitzpatrick blocked an extra-point, but was whistled for leveraging. It appeared to be a rather generous interpretation of the rule to bail out the Jets. New York then converted a two-point conversion.
The Steelers also seemed to feel that Jefferson was the victim of a pass interference that wasn't called in the end zone during the first half and that the Jets tried to challenge a play late in the process that ended up being a touchdown in their favor on the next snap.
In the third quarter, there was a disputed timeout that appeared to be called by Rodgers after the play clock expired. But it was rewarded to the Jets anyway. However, that drive resulted in the blocked field goal.