Steelers shoot for the moon ball, but will offense hold up or wilt in brutal final stretch?

LANDOVER, Md. – Were it not for the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs, the AFC would run through the Pittsburgh Steelers at the moment. 

Occupying first place in the AFC North, the Steelers are about to enter their most brutal stretch of the season, with all six divisional games set for the final eight weeks. Having seven wins in the bank is an insurance policy that leaves margin for error but shouldn’t make anyone in Pittsburgh overly comfortable. The latest triumph, a 28-27 road victory Sunday over another first-place team in the Washington Commanders, was a reminder why. 

"It was enough for us to win today," Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said of his team's offense. "And we'll get back in the lab because we've got a real hot opponent next week, so we'll see."

As Tomlin said, the Steelers did enough Sunday to beat the Commanders. Will the same kind of performance next week be enough to cling to the AFC North lead and hang with the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson, the "hot opponent" to whom Tomlin was referring? 

Quarterback Russell Wilson, in his third start with the team, finished 14-for-28 for 195 passing yards and three touchdowns with one interception. He was aided by receiver George Pickens, who had five catches for 91 yards and a touchdown – an acrobatic snag. Making his Steelers debut, Mike Williams caught a 32-yard touchdown on his lone target from Wilson. Williams, who was acquired at the deadline last week in a deal with the New York Jets, didn't need to know the Pittsburgh playbook front to back to make an impact; it was a classic “moon ball” from Wilson, whose reliance on the deep pass and vertical passing game has been evident through three games as the Steelers’ starter.  

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"I've seen it a few times on highlight shows," Tomlin said of Wilson's high-arching passes. "It's a little better in person."

Can the Steelers’ offense “moon ball” its way to the playoffs? The Cleveland Browns withstanding, the AFC North is again one of the league’s more difficult divisions. Neither the Cincinnati Bengals nor Ravens defend the pass exceptionally well. Entering Sunday, the Steelers had the fourth-hardest schedule remaining (based on winning percentage) in the NFL. The weighted second half for the Steelers is one reason Tomlin inserted Wilson, signed during the offseason, as the starter after six weeks – even though Justin Fields had the team at 4-2 while Wilson recovered from a calf injury he suffered during training camp and later aggravated.

Fields threw for more than 250 yards once – Wilson did it in his first two starts before the Steelers went on their bye last week. Wilson is now 3-0 under center for the “Black and Gold.” Much of the offense has been under center with a heavy emphasis on play action.

"That's what they do," Commanders defensive back Noah Igbinoghene said. "They got Russell Wilson. They got George Pickens. They got Williams as well. Those are deep-ball guys. Those are fifty-fifty guys."

On balls that traveled more than 20 yards past the line of scrimmage against Washington, Wilson was 3-for-7. Two went for touchdowns, and all but one were passes to the left. Despite his inefficiency, the Steelers had four plays that went for more than 20 yards – none were runs and one was a screen pass to Jaylen Warren.

"I've been trying to tell you guys all year they make plays when called upon, and that's just the mindset and idea," Tomlin said of the Pittsburgh receiving corps. "Their efforts make it real, and so, keep watching."

At halftime, though, Wilson had 48 passing yards on 15 attempts, and his longest completion went for 16 yards. On third-and-14 late in the third quarter, Wilson again looked deep for Pickens again and threw into the awaiting arms of safety Jeremy Chinn. 

"I could’ve made a couple more throws," Wilson said. "The (interception), I was trying to give him a chance, and you try and launch it down there to him. And most of the time it works, and that time it didn’t, but it was really a long punt. So it’s, 'All right, let's go.'"

Wilson said Tomlin talked to the Steelers at the end of last week about being in the moment during the upcoming critical stretch.

"Sure enough, we were able to do that," Wilson said.

Tomlin and the Steelers deployed a dose of gamesmanship by lining up and forcing the Commanders to jump offsides on fourth-and-1 to ice the game with 62 seconds left on the clock. 

With Warren and Najee Harris, along with some Cordarelle Patterson, the Steelers are committed to the running game under first-year offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Washington held Pittsburgh to 3.3 yards per rush on 43 attempts, though.

Pickens proved to be the X-factor, and Wilson called him "special – one of the best receivers in the NFL." All Wilson has to do, he said, is put the ball in his vicinity and give him a chance.

"You know he does a great job of beating guys on the routes," Wilson said. "George has just been really showing up in special ways. I just got so much confidence in who he is, the competitor that he is. His practice habits. He continues to grow, and he’s just a warrior out there in how he prepares."

Having an offensive sparkplug like Pickens and defenders such as Cam Heyward (two sacks), T.J. Watt (two tackles for loss with a pass breakup) and Alex Highsmith (who left late with a gruesome-looking ankle injury) is another luxury afforded to Tomlin and his staff as they determine this team’s ideal quotient of complementary football. 

Seven of the Steelers’ points came on tight end Pat Freiermuth (three catches, 17 yards) 3-yard touchdown catch with 10:18 left in the second quarter. Pittsburgh took advantage of a short field (14 yards) after Washington punt returner Olamide Zacchaeus muffed his second punt of the day. 

That was some form of karmic payback from a series earlier when the team faked a punt that would have been successful had the completely uncovered James Pierre caught a pass from the up man in the Steelers’ punt formation.

"I own that. I'll do it again," Tomlin said. "But we didn't execute it. So it was a bad idea."

That is the type of aggression Tomlin said he will not back away from. Teams such as the New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys have been derided for declaring themselves “all in” with little to show for it. In typical Steelers fashion, they actually pushed a lot of chips to the middle but kept quiet about it. 

Everything about the 2024 Steelers — from coaching decisions to the ways Wilson delivers the ball to his receivers — has an air of all or nothing to it. In that way, Tomlin has exactly what he hoped for.

This story has been updated to include a new video.