1. No shotgun, plenty of ‘action’

It wasn’t just the quarterback that was different about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense during last week’s win against the New York Jets. In his debut for the team, Russell Wilson went under center and used play-action much more than has been typical for the Steelers quarterbacks and their play-callers in recent years.

According to Next Gen Stats, Wilson was under center for 41 of 66 eligible snaps versus the Jets. That 62.1% rate was Wilson’s highest for a game in eight years. While under center, Wilson threw nine passes off play-action. Eight such completions gained 150 yards, the most on record in a game by Next Gen (born in 2016) for a Steelers quarterback.

Pro Football Focus came to slightly different figures, but using its data, only one QB during Week 7 (the Arizona Cardinals’ Kyler Murray) went play-action on a higher share of his dropbacks than Wilson.

The only NFL quarterback last weekend who had more play-action dropbacks than Wilson’s 13? The familiar Mason Rudolph, who had 16 in his first start for the Tennessee Titans.

2. To the moon

Wilson likes to refer to his deep passes as “moon balls.” That’s probably because he tends to throw them higher into the air than most quarterbacks, and the Next Gen data backs that up.

Wilson’s 44-yard completion to George Pickens in the second quarter of last Sunday’s game stayed in the air for 3.0 seconds. For context on how long that is, consider that Wilson over the past seven seasons has the longest average “air time” of any passer for throws that travel 20 or more yards downfield — at 2.25 seconds.

Incidentally, Wilson by far leads the NFL in touchdown passes that were thrown 20-plus yards downfield since 2018. He has 58.

3. Deep to George

Pickens is a perfect complement to one of the NFL’s best deep-ball throwers. Against the Jets, Pickens caught two of Wilson’s “deep” throws to him, gaining 81 yards.

Counting the season’s first six games when Justin Fields was quarterback, Pickens is second in the NFL with eight deep receptions (those caught 20 or more yards downfield). He is tied for fourth in the NFL with 13 deep targets, and the 61.5% rate with which he catches those throws leads the league among receivers thrown to deep at least nine times this season.

After being the intended receiver for a league-high 68.8% of the targeted air yards thrown by his team in Week 7, Pickens leads the NFL for the season in that category. He’s the only pass catcher in the NFL to which more than half of his team’s targeted air yards go (51.09%), per Next Gen.

4. Better finishers than starters

The 2024 Steelers’ propensity to start slow and finish fast has been a significant narrative over the past week. The numbers are quite striking.

Consider, on a per-game basis offensively: only three of 32 NFL teams have scored fewer first-quarter points, and only six teams score fewer second-quarter points … but only six teams have more third-quarter points and only four have more fourth-quarter points than the Steelers.

Defensively, only four teams have allowed more first-quarter points … but only one team has allowed fewer points in the second quarter, and no team has allowed fewer points in the third quarter. The Steelers, in fact, have shut out opponents in the third quarters of all seven games this season. They have the best second-half scoring defense in the NFL.

By half on offense, the Steelers rank tied for the seventh-worst scoring offense in the first half and own the second-best scoring offense in the second half.

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