Moon-ball magic: How Wilson’s passing edge over Fields opened up Pittsburgh’s offense

Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff WriterOct 28, 2024, 06:00 AM ET

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Previously covered the Kansas City Chiefs for the Kansas City Star and Oklahoma University for the Oklahoman.PITTSBURGH — It seemed there was no way Pat Freiermuth was going to catch the ball arcing high over his head at Acrisure Stadium on Oct. 20.

But as the Pittsburgh Steelers tight end rumbled down the sideline, the ball took a nosedive and came into view a couple yards in front of him. With an outstretched arm, Freiermuth tipped it to himself and made an acrobatic 21-yard snag.

Just like that, Freiermuth understood the magic of a Russell Wilson moon ball.

“I really didn’t think I was going to get to it, but he said he saw that the defender grabbed my arms, and he knew how to put a little more on it,” Freiermuth told ESPN. “I think just his knowledge of our speed, our playmaking ability — he puts it in a position where we can make a play on it, but the defense can’t.”

The throw to Freiermuth traveled 15.1 air yards, one of seven attempts of more than 10 air yards by Wilson in that game, a 37-15 win over the New York Jets. In addition to completing three of four attempts between 10 and 19 air yards, he completed two of three on throws that traveled at least 20 air yards, matching in one game the total number of such passes completed this season by quarterbacks such as Justin Herbert, Anthony Richardson and Joe Flacco. Wilson posted a 109.7 passer rating on those throws of 20-plus air yards, with a 35.8% completion percentage over expectation.

Meanwhile, in his six-game stint as starter, Justin Fields completed 6 of 19 attempts on throws of more than 20 air yards, with a minus-8.2% completion percentage over expectation.

“That’s been Russ’ strong suit,” offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said of the deep ball. “He’ll be the first to tell you, we’re greedy, we want more. Historically, that’s what’s made him the player he is. He’s got a unique spatial awareness and touch.

“A lot of those things, you can drill those things, but some guys have a great feel for it. Putting it out in front, knowing who you’re throwing to, how much you need to lead ’em, dropping things in there. I would credit that to really his whole athletic background.”

Wilson’s moon ball has been in the league for over a decade, but it’s new to this year’s Steelers offense — and it’s the difference-making addition that helps give Wilson the edge over Fields with a more well-round passing attack next on display against the New York Giants on “Monday Night Football” (8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC/ESPN+).

Some completions were the byproduct of high-effort, circus catches by the skill-position players on under-thrown passes, but in his first start as a Steeler, Wilson helped open up the offense by showing a willingness to launch the ball deep and give his receivers a chance to make a play.

“It helps any offense out and especially ours, just getting those big chunks,” wide receiver Calvin Austin III said. “Going from your own 20 to the opponent’s 20, you eliminate any bad that could happen within those 60 yards or whatever. You eliminate all errors just from that big chunk you gain. It puts us in better positions.”

THREE PLAYS BEFORE Freiermuth hauled in his first moon ball, wide receiver George Pickens snagged his second one of the night, an improbable catch as he corralled the ball bouncing off a defender’s helmet.

Like the pass to Freiermuth, Wilson launched this ball into orbit over the defense.

To his receivers, the air Wilson puts on the throw is one of the main things that distinguishes Wilson’s moon ball from other deep passes.

“It drops off a little bit different,” Pickens said. “A lot of guys throw a lot of sailing balls, trying to lead you down the field or kind of back shoulder trying to stop you. Russ got a good deep ball just because it drops off in the sky because he throws it so high.”

By putting so much air under it, Wilson gives his receivers more time to track the ball and adjust to the throw.

“Once you get under it, it kind of falls into a pocket almost,” Austin said. “So I definitely say it makes it a little easier.”

It’s not just the loft of Wilson’s moon ball that makes it special, it’s how the ball rockets down from the peak of the pass. After hitting the arc’s apex, the nose of the ball turns downward, propelling the pass toward the intended receiver.

Players liken catching the pass to fielding a punt.

“It’s kind of like a punt because it turns over,” said Austin, who’s also the Steelers’ primary punt returner. “Some balls stay flat, but his nose dives down, so it just drops in there.”

— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) October 21, 2024 What sets Wilson apart from other prolific deep-ball throwers isn’t just the trajectory of his passes, but the consistency of their completions. Since being drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in 2012, Wilson has completed 41.2% of throws attempted beyond 20 air yards, third among all quarterbacks in that time period. He’s also completed a league-high 330 passes of at least 20 air yards since he entered the league. Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, who’s played in six fewer games, is second to Wilson with 281 completions of such passes.

“I try to give the guys a chance,” Wilson told ESPN. “They always do a good job of making me look halfway decent, and they have great plays. I think the biggest thing is that, yeah, I’ve been definitely throwing it up to the moon for a long time, and let it come down and let them have a chance to make a great play. It takes a lot of reps.”

Wilson’s moon balls might be a dream for his receivers, but they’re a nightmare for defensive players.

Cornerback Donte Jackson, who spent six years with the Carolina Panthers before being traded to the Steelers in the offseason, remembers facing Wilson’s deep ball in 2019 when he fired a 58-yarder to wide receiver Josh Gordon.

“It was like a streak,” Jackson said, shaking his head. “Josh Gordon ran right through our three deep, and he just put that [ball] out there and he ran right underneath it, the deep ball. It was a crazy throw.”

For all of the moon ball’s positive traits for offensive skill players, it has the inverse effect for defensive players, making it more difficult to intercept. With a career touchdown-to-interception ratio of 3.17, Wilson ranks second to Aaron Rodgers among all quarterbacks with at least 1,500 pass attempts.

“It’s more of a challenge for a [defensive back] because we are not always catching those type of balls,” Jackson said. “When you’re running with a guy who has that type of skill set to go run under it, it is kind of natural for a receiver. For a DB, it’s kind of hard to track ’em when they’re just floating in the air, because this guy knows he’s just going to run underneath it.”

And it’s not just a frustrating ball for players in the secondary. Because so many of Wilson’s highlight-reel throws have come as he’s scrambling around and extending the play, the moon balls deflate a pass rush, too.

“Any quarterback, if you feel like you’ve got ’em bottled up and then they make a magical throw like that, you got to reset yourself,” defensive tackle Cam Heyward said. “It is definitely tougher on the defense when you’re flipping the field.”

Atlanta Falcons quarterback — and 2012 draft classmate — Kirk Cousins remembers being awed by Wilson’s combination of play-extending scrambles with his moon balls when the pair faced off in college when Wilson was a member of the Wisconsin Badgers and Cousins played for Michigan State.

“We played my senior year, watching the ball go up, it was like ‘Bombs over Baghdad,'” Cousins said. “Sometimes he’s off schedule, and you’re like, ‘Whoa.’ So, he’s always kind of had that ability to extend, and when he extends, you know, he’s looking for the big play.”

WILSON DOESN’T REMEMBER the first time he threw a moon ball, but he figures it was probably one of the thousands of passes he threw to his older brother, Harry, in the backyard of their Richmond, Virginia, home growing up. At the direction of his dad, Wilson started his days with 5:30 a.m. throwing sessions with Harry, who went on to play college football.

“[Harry] was older than me, but he could really run,” Wilson said. “I was just throwing it down the field for him on post routes.”

As he got older, Wilson thought of his pass like a Steph Curry 3-pointer, arcing the ball as high as he could, marveling at its trajectory.

He also realized that because he had larger hands than typical for his sub-6 foot stature, he had more control in how and where he released the football. Wilson drilled the pass diligently and went to all of the premier football camps and passing academies, but through all of his work, no one told him how exactly to throw the moon ball. He just kind of did it.

“I don’t know if I got advice on it,” Wilson said, pausing to think. “Nobody ever told me to throw the moon ball. It wasn’t like somebody was like, ‘Hey, we should throw the ball. I just started doing it, and I don’t know, it just kind of came.”

In something of a happy accident, Wilson enhanced his natural throwing ability even more on the baseball diamond.

Wilson’s ability to power the ball down the field and put a specific trajectory on it stems from years of baseball drills, said private quarterbacks coach Jake Heaps, who has worked with Wilson since the two were Seahawks teammates in 2017.

“He has such a strong lower half,” Heaps said. “He’s able to generate such great RPMs on the ball, great spin rate on the ball, and he just has a tremendous feel for it.”

Heaps points to baseball’s long-toss drill as something that helped Wilson, who as an infielder was selected in the fourth round of the 2010 MLB draft by the Colorado Rockies, develop accuracy along with his range on the pass.

In the drill, players start by throwing to a target 10 yards away, incrementally backing up to increase the throw’s distance. Once players reach 100 yards, they start moving in again in the “pull-down” phase. As the range changes, the players learn to adjust release points and trajectories to maintain accuracy.

“Russell’s had that background and has done that his whole life where he just has a tremendous feel and understanding,” Heaps said. “If he misses a throw, he is one of the greatest fixers, where you make a mistake and you fix it the next rep. A lot of it is just feel. He understands, ‘OK, that wasn’t right. Here’s how I get that feeling of the correct pass, the correct footwork, all those things.’ And a lot of that I attribute to his background in baseball — and from those long-toss pull downs.”

Over the years, younger quarterbacks have approached Wilson to ask for tips on how to throw the moon ball.

As he does so often, Wilson is happy to give them advice and encouragement.

“It just takes a lot of practice,” Wilson tells them. “It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of trust. It takes a lot of great players. All of that goes together.”

But the exact logistics, the mechanics and secret sauce that makes it all come together?

“You can’t give it all,” Wilson said with a grin.

Falcons reporter Marc Raimondi contributed to this story.