PITTSBURGH – As the offense trudged off the field early in the second quarter Monday night after the third consecutive three-and-out, loud cheers rained down from a listless crowd at Acrisure Stadium. 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 were at the heart of the crowd’s dissatisfaction.

Two hours and 34 unanswered points later, however, the crowd sang along with Biz Markie and Mac Miller as Wilson quarterbacked the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 37-15 victory against the New York Jets in prime time, setting a franchise record for passing yards and points. scored on 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 two of six 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, leaving its completion increased. percentage from 33% in the first frame to 60% in the last three.

“I thought he was outstanding,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “I thought he got better as the game went on. But I’m not surprised by that. It’s been a while since he’s played a ball, but I thought he got comfortable, knocked off the rust and hit the ball distributed and played.” Good.”

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

“I really believe in being neutral, not being too high and not being too low,” Wilson said. “My old mental coach, who passed away a few years ago, always said, ‘Stay the course.’ And I think going into this game, we had some things early on that we could have had, I felt like it was playoff baseball in the sense that I started 0-for-2, but I felt like I was going to get hot. I kept telling the coach, ‘Hey, I’m going to get hot here.’ And we certainly did that. We did a great job. “I’ve played so many games and you know every game is different. Every game has its own story and every game has different moments and you catch the wave and once you find it you don’t let it go. And I think the most important thing is to know who you are, to know what belief you have in yourself and that also the first time I was back, and I thought, okay, I’m starting to feel it again. Here we go.”

He felt that moment again, Wilson said, when he connected with wide receiver George Pickens for the first touchdowns of the season with 27 seconds left until halftime.

“When I threw that first touchdown to George, I thought, ‘Okay, there’s going to be a lot more,’” Wilson said. “I believe sometimes it takes that first home run, that first double, whatever it may be. Obviously it’s October, so I’m talking about baseball, but I just think if you put all the hard work in, and guys do the work and at some point it will turn in your favor, and we did a great job that night and I’m excited about our football team.”

Wilson was right. More scores would follow. He found the end zone two more times, one with a one-yard sneak and the other with a four-yard throw to wide receiver Van Jefferson for the veteran wide receiver’s first score of the season.

“I thought Arthur Smith did a great job of letting me go and getting the guys open up and letting the guys run around and make great plays,” Wilson said. “I thought he had a great game. He helped me move in the right direction. We talked about it before, earlier in the week and at the end of the week, and at the end of the week he said that It might take a while. I never believed that, but it did and then we got a groove, we believed in it.”

Wilson also finished the game completing 5 of 6 attempts on passes of at least 10 air yards, averaging 24.8 yards per attempt on such throws. Wilson was also 3 of 4 for 92 yards and a touchdown when targeting Pickens with deep throws. After the game, Pickens, who finished with 111 yards on five catches, explained what made their skills fit: “I located the ball downfield and Russ’ pre-read, seeing what coverage it is before he says walk.”

Before the game, Tomlin made the decision to start Wilson over Justin Fields, who went 4-2 in six starts as Wilson worked his way back from training camp’s calf injury. After the win, former NFL wide receiver and Pittsburgh native Brandon Marshall jumped into Tomlin’s press conference and asked the head coach if the decision to start Wilson was his “boldest.”

“That’s why I’m well compensated,” Tomlin said.

And Wilson downplayed the idea of ​​infighting in the organization surrounding the quarterback decision.

“We’re in a huge situation that we’re in,” Wilson said. “I think there’s a lot of outside noise that makes it seem like it’s a negative thing and this internal rivalry, and it’s not, man, we just want to win. We are focused on that.

“I have to give credit to Justin Fields, man, just all the things he was able to do, how great he’s played, man, he inspires me every day. … He’s a great quarterback, he’s a franchise quarterback, he is a leader. He has all the intangibles and everything I can give him and show him and just be around him, that’s part of my job.

“I think we’re just having fun winning. We’re having fun running the ball. … Coach Tomlin believes in all of us, and he’s doing a great job. And this guy is a great football coach, and we trust him, and we know who he is and he is also very transparent with us in everything else.

“We just like to win. We just like to be part of the process.”