Russell Wilson victorious in debut with Pittsburgh Steelers - ESPN

PITTSBURGH — As the offense trudged off the field following its third consecutive three-and-out early in the second quarter Monday night, loud boos rained down from a listless Acrisure Stadium crowd. And if there was any doubt about the primary target of the vocal frustration, the chants for Justin Fields made it abundantly clear: Russell Wilson's subpar play and inaccuracy was at the heart of the crowd's discontent.

Two hours and 34 unanswered points later, though, the crowd sang along to Biz Markie and Mac Miller as Wilson quarterbacked the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 37-15 win against the New York Jets in prime time, setting a franchise record for passing yards and points scored in a debut along the way.

Wilson finished his injury-delayed regular-season debut with 264 passing yards and three total touchdowns. And after completing just 2 of 6 attempts for 19 yards in the first quarter — including a 15-yard completion to Darnell Washington on his first attempt — Wilson completed 14 of 23 attempts for 245 yards in the final three quarters, increasing his completion percentage from 33% in the first frame to 60% in the final three.

«I thought he was excellent,» coach Mike Tomlin said. «I thought he got better as the game went on. But I'm not surprised by that. It has been a while since he's played some ball, but I thought he settled in, knocked the rust off and distributed the ball around and played well.»

Wilson, of course, heard the boos early in the game, but he said afterward that his steady mentality helped him rebound from a rocky start that saw the Steelers go 0-of-3 on third down in the first quarter as underthrown passes bounced to the turf and others were haphazardly thrown away as the Jets' pass rush closed in.

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