LANDOVER, Md. — On Tuesday afternoon, Mike Williams was enjoying a nap when his phone started beeping and buzzing with phone calls and text messages. Groggy, he woke up to find out the New York Jets had just traded him to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“I thought I was dreaming,” Williams said.
On Sunday, five days after the Steelers spent a fifth-round pick to round out their receiver room, the deadline-day addition answered the call in the most critical of moments.
Trailing the Washington Commanders by six points with 2:27 left in the game and facing third-and-9 from the 32-yard line, the Steelers dialed up a shot play. They had drilled it all week in practice — but never with Williams.
“None,” Williams said after the game. “I didn’t run it one time.”
The initial plan called for Calvin Austin III to use his track caliber speed to create separation on a go route down the left sideline. However, when Austin got injured earlier in the series, quarterback Russell Wilson talked with Williams on the sideline and explained what he needed from him on the route. Williams had played only a handful of snaps to that point and mostly spent the game keeping himself ready on the sideline by jogging intermittently.
“(The play) was for (Austin),” Williams said. “He was out. So I went in there and made a play.”
Not just a play. The biggest play of the game. Wilson uncorked yet another one of his high-arcing deep shots. Instead of looking back at the QB, Williams said he immediately looked to the air, tracked the ball and reeled it in over his shoulder for the game-winning touchdown as he tumbled to the turf.
FIRST TD AS A STEELER!!!!!!!!
📲 Stream on NFL+: https://t.co/COxKRnr6Mc pic.twitter.com/qaxvtHNvcM
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 10, 2024
“You’ve got to love clutch moments,” Wilson said. “When you’re playing a game, it’s a collection of 75 plays, and you want to see how many great moments you can have. We had that one in a key part of the game.”
Williams’ first catch with his new team lifted the Steelers to a 28-27 victory — perhaps their signature win of the season against the previously 7-2 Commanders — and boosted their record to 7-2.
In doing so, the Steelers overcame a 10-point, third-quarter deficit and plenty of self-inflicted wounds. Although the game ended with a jubilant locker room and a happy plane ride to Pittsburgh, there were many ways it could have gone sideways, starting with when upback Miles Killebrew’s pass bounced off of James Pierre’s hands on a fake punt in the first quarter.
“(Special teams coordinator) Danny (Smith) has us prepared for a lot of different looks that we might see, and that was one of them,” Killebrew said. “(The defender) came in. I saw it was one-on-one. No one was there on him. We threw it up and, you know, we didn’t get it. But I love how this game is. You just put your head down, you keep going.”
The Steelers also surrendered touchdowns right before and right after halftime to turn a 14-10 lead into a 24-14 deficit, as the defense was repeatedly hit with slants over the middle, gashed on chunk plays and flagged in the secondary. Pittsburgh lost the turnover battle 2-1 to one of the NFL’s best teams in that department. And in what almost became the moment under the microscope, Jaylen Warren fumbled near the goal line when he attempted to score the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Yet, the defense settled in and came up with critical third- and fourth-down stops, and the offense showed off its newest weapon and its character.
“Guys are answering the call,” Wilson said. “The ability to respond in the midst of adversity is really what’s important. When you can do it as a collective effort and you do it collectively as a team, and everybody not blinking, we look forward to those moments. We believe that we can win them, and sure enough, we did tonight.”
This was not the typical recipe for a Steelers win. For years coming into this season, Pittsburgh needed to drag opponents down to its level and beat them in low-scoring, defensively driven rock fights. Games like this from the offense — which scored four touchdowns and could have had a fifth if not for the fumble — show that these are not your grandfather’s Steelers, or even last year’s Steelers.
“When you come into an environment like this and you find a way to get it done, not only is it a well-earned victory, man, but there’s some real growth associated with it,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “We learned a little bit about ourselves, hopefully in a positive way, today.”
What we learned is that with upgrades at offensive coordinator (Arthur Smith), quarterback (Wilson), the offensive line and now a new receiver whose skill set fits the quarterback well, Pittsburgh no longer needs to win on the back of its defense. Wilson and company can be the catalyst.
Since Wilson stepped in for Justin Fields, the Steelers have averaged 382 yards and more than 31.7 points per game. His veteran presence and steady, confident demeanor have proved valuable in tense moments like Sunday. His experience has allowed the Steelers to check into the right calls at the line of scrimmage. And, maybe most importantly, he’s continuing to unlock George Pickens, who racked up 91 receiving yards and made a twisting, “SportsCenter Top 10”-worthy touchdown catch to open the scoring Sunday.
GEORGE PICKENS TD OH MY
📺: #PITvsWAS on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/rFXdORC9VE— NFL (@NFL) November 10, 2024
“Letting the ball loose, that’s one of the biggest components of his game,” Pickens said. “Trusting the receivers when it’s a certain coverage, when you see certain space, front pylon, back pylon, he’s going to release it.”
With that mindset and his trademark moonball, Wilson now has another target in the fold in Williams. The 6-foot-4 receiver with three 1,000-yard receiving seasons on his resume has a history of attacking opponents vertically, and he’s exactly the type of player who can benefit from a quarterback like Wilson. The more time he gets to work with Wilson, learn the playbook and earn the coaching staff’s trust, the more he’ll be able to showcase his deep-threat ability. That could continue to round out this offense and add the necessary balance to what’s often been a lopsided unit that had been overreliant on Pickens.
Make no mistake, the Steelers are going to need that type of growth as they embark upon the gauntlet that is their second-half schedule. The best offense the Steelers saw before their Week 9 bye was in Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons, who came into Sunday ranked 12th in the NFL in scoring. Even they weren’t firing on all cylinders in Kirk Cousins’ first game.
The second half? The Steelers will face opponents whose offenses entered Week 10 ranking first (Ravens), third (Commanders), sixth (Bengals) and tied for eighth (Chiefs and Eagles). The only reprieve comes against the lowly Browns.
“With the offense (the Commanders) have … we knew we were going to have to put up points for sure,” Pickens said.
And they’ll have to again, possibly as early as Week 11 against the high-flying Ravens. While the defense has been dominant at times this season, you can guarantee that the Steelers will find themselves down by two scores or in a high-stakes shootout with a second-half slate that includes Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes.
Since Ben Roethlisberger retired, the Steelers likely would have needed T.J. Watt to put on his cape and rescue them in a game like Sunday’s. But with an offense that’s highlighting its playmakers, showing resilience and stepping up in crunch time, the Steelers now have more than one way to win football games. They can win because of the offense, not in spite of it like they did so often in seasons past.
“We can put points up on the board,” tight end Pat Freiermuth said. “We’ve shown that, really the whole season. The defense can rely on us.”
(Photo of Mike Williams, 18, and Pat Freiermuth: Geoff Burke / Imagn Images)
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