“I thought our group smiled in the face of it, particularly (Wilson),” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said. “It’s the first time for him going through AFC North football, and I thought he acclimated himself to it well today. He put himself squarely in the history of this series with that performance today.”
With the defense uncharacteristically getting toasted at times and negative plays in the form of a couple of Pickens personal foul penalties — which prompted Tomlin to say the young receiver needs to “grow up” — Wilson shined.
The 44 points were the most in a game by Pittsburgh since Week 10, 2018 versus Carolina (52 points) and the most in a road game since Week 13, 2000 at Cincinnati (48). The Steelers’ 520 total yards were the team’s most in a game since Week 12, 2018 at Denver (527).
Bouncing back from last week’s loss in snowy Cleveland, Wilson showed the whole arsenal. He dropped moonballs, fit a perfect 23-yard seam-shot TD to Calvin Austin III, found targets on scramble drills, and when the Bengals dropped back, he was comfortable repeatedly dumping it off to his backs for chunk gains.
Wilson completed eight of nine passes over 10 air yards for 205 yards and two touchdowns (+34.8% CPOE, his third-highest mark in a game over the last seven seasons).
“We wanted to come out and attack, because we knew what they would give us,” said Tomlin. “That’s what I mean about the depths of these waters in these divisional relationships. It is not checkers — it’s chess.”
The Steelers all but called checkmate on the Bengals season, dropping them to 4-8. Moving to 9-3, Pittsburgh has a 1.5-game lead in the AFC North. If Wilson continues to play this well, Pittsburgh will have a shot to move up from the No. 3 seed in the coming weeks.