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Russell Wilson went 0-for-0 with zero yards, zero touchdowns and zero interceptions in the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ 13-6 win over the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
He didn’t rush for any yards. He didn’t catch any passes. In fact, Wilson didn’t play at all despite yet again dressing in full pads for a game he knew he wasn’t going to play.
Despite all that, Wilson was game ball by head coach Mike Tomlin following the victory, which moved Pittsburgh to 2-0 on the young season. And the reason why is absolutely ridiculous.
After the game, starting quarterback Justin Fields revealed that Wilson received what Mike Tomlin calls a “petty game ball.”
“I think we all know Russ got kind of did dirty last year,” Fields said in the postgame press conference. “So I know he wished he could have played today in this game, but it’s awesome getting a win for him. He got a petty game ball.”
But Wilson wasn’t the only one.
Practice squad wide receiver Brandon Johnson and punter Corliss Waitman, each of whom played in Denver last season, received game balls as well.
It continues a tradition that Tomlin has done for several years where he will give a game ball to players in games where they beat their former teams.
Russell Wilson Game Ball Comes After Denver Bronos Tried To Smear Him
But Wilson’s bad blood with Denver runs deep. While he wasn’t a star, his final season with the Broncos really wasn’t that bad.
He completed 66.4 percent of his passes for 3,070 yards, 26 touchdowns, and eight interceptions before being benched in favor of the demonstrably worse Jarrett Stidham.
Then Denver seemingly launched a coordinated PR campaign against their former signal called.
“He was constantly climbing out of the back of the pocket,” Aditio Kinkhabwala of CBS Sports said of Wilson’s time in Denver. “He struggled with snap counts (and) he couldn’t manage or handle the play-calling. They went from putting a wristband on [him] to, by the end of the season, all the play calls had to be two words and everybody else was required to know what the play calls were.”
Perhaps ironically, Broncos’ rookie starter Bo Nix was seen struggling with play calls over the weekend. But hey, everything was Russ’s fault, right?