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The Pittsburgh Steelers went through nearly a 6-year period where none of their quarterbacks threw for at least 400 yards in a regular season game. Russell Wilson ended that drought, though, in his sixth start with the team.
Before December 1, the last Steelers quarterback to reach the 400-yard plateau in the regular season was Ben Roethlisberger in Week 12 of the 2018 season. Fittingly, Roethlisberger sent Wilson a text after he joined him in the 400-yard Steelers quarterbacks club.
“I texted Russ, ‘Great game, way to play,'” said Roethlisberger on his Footbahlin podcast on December 3.
Wilson completed 29 of 38 passes for 414 passing yards with 3 touchdowns and an interception. It was the first time in Wilson’s career where he posted at least a 75% completion percentage and averaged more than 10 yards per pass while attempting more than 30 passes in a game.
“Career game,” Roethlisberger said of Wilson on his podcast. “That was so much fun to watch. It looked like he was just doing whatever he wanted to.”
Russell Wilson Joins Exclusive Steelers Passing Club
Roethlisberger threw for at least 400 yards in a single game 12 times during his Steelers career. But before Week 13, it had been an accomplishment done by a Steelers quarterback only two other times in history.
Bobby Layne recorded 409 passing yards in a game during the 1958 season. Tommy Maddox set a new franchise record with 473 passing yards on November 10, 2002.
Terry Bradshaw never had a 400-yard passing game.
Wilson surpassed the 400-yard plateau on a 43-yard strike to receiver Van Jefferson at the 6:30 mark of the fourth quarter. The completion came on third-and-9 and set up a Steelers field goal that increased their lead to 13.
The Steelers needed to convert a first down on their final possession to officially end the game. But Wilson didn’t attempt a pass on that drive. Otherwise, he could have padded his statistics.
As it was, Wilson’s performance is ranked 11th on the Steelers all-time single game passing yards list. It was also the second-most yards Wilson has thrown for in an NFL contest.
Wilson had 452 passing yards against the Houston Texans in 2017.
Wilson Still Facing Doubters
Wilson is now 5-1 as the Steelers starting quarterback. And he seems to be getting better each week.
He’s completed at least 75% of his passes in each of the past two games. Wilson also has 4 touchdowns versus 1 interception during that span, and, as many pundits did, Roethlisberger argued the interception shouldn’t have counted because of a Bengals penalty.
However, Wilson does seem to still have a doubter in ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky.
On November 21, Orlovsky questioned whether Wilson and the Steelers red zone offense was good enough to beat the top quarterbacks in the league — Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.
Pittsburgh’s red zone offense hasn’t been stellar. But Wilson has beaten Jackson and Burrow over the past month. Last year with a below .500 Denver Broncos team, Wilson defeated Mahomes and Allen.
But now Orlovsky wants to see Wilson perform at a high level against a better defense.
“The Bengals have the worst defense in the NFL slim,” Orlovsky responded on X to a sarcastic question from ESPN’s Tone Digz. “Let’s tuck it in ok?”
There are other bad defenses in that conversation, but the tone of Orlovsky’s claim is correct. The Bengals are 25th in yards allowed and second-to-last in points given up this season.
Wilson will get plenty of opportunities against elite defenses down the stretch. The Steelers will face the Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs and their three division rivals once again to finish the 2024 regular season.
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Ben Roethlisberger Delivers 5-Word Message to Russell Wilson