Russell Wilson is set to make his Pittsburgh Steelers debut as the quarterback will start in his team’s preseason matchup against the Buffalo Bills on Saturday, coach Mike Tomlin announced Thursday.
Tomlin said that Wilson will play four series in the exhibition after sitting out Pittsburgh’s first preseason game while recovering from a calf injury. Wilson injured his calf while pushing a sled during the team’s conditioning test on July 24 which severely limited his participation in the early portion of training camp.
With Wilson limited, Justin Fields took a majority of the first-team reps in camp. Ahead of the first preseason game, Tomlin continued to list Wilson as QB1 but reiterated “it very much is a competition” between Wilson and Fields.
For months now, all signs have been pointing toward Wilson starting for the Steelers — not only in this preseason game but also in Week 1.
Soon after the veteran quarterback was acquired, Tomlin said Wilson had “pole position.” Tomlin has also discussed how Fields can benefit from learning from Wilson. And even after Wilson was significantly limited during the early parts of training camp, he maintained QB1 status when the first depth chart was released ahead of the first preseason game, and again when the depth chart was updated ahead of the second preseason game.
Reading between the lines at QB
All of those words and actions would seem to indicate Wilson not only had “pole position” but also a noteworthy head start on Fields due to his veteran experience and leadership qualities. Now that Wilson is healthy, it’s no surprise that he’s the one who will get the starting nod against the Buffalo Bills.
The real question is if he can use this opportunity to put an end to the quarterback competition talk, or if he leaves the door open for Fields.
Wilson is coming off a strong week of training camp, during which he has taken more and more of the first-team reps. However, Tomlin has said that he weighs “in-stadium” experiences more heavily, so Saturday could be significant when it comes to finalizing the quarterback competition.
Required reading
(Photo: Justin Berl / Getty Images)
