Mike Tomlin still hasn’t revealed a decision, but it appears the Pittsburgh Steelers are ready to give Russell Wilson his first start at quarterback Sunday night against the New York Jets.
Wide receiver George Pickens spoke with reporters Friday afternoon and was asked how he was doing working with Wilson, who missed the first part of the season with a calf injury.
“(We’re) getting on the same page after practice throwing — more than usual because, you know, this is his first start,” Pickens said Friday.
Tomlin, the Steelers’ longtime coach, has kept his quarterback plans close to the vest after Justin Fields led Pittsburgh to a 4-2 start.
Wilson, who was active last week and served as Fields’ backup in a blowout win over the Las Vegas Raiders, was not listed on the injury report this week. Reporters found out from offensive tackle Dan Moore Jr. that Wilson was taking at least some of the first-team reps.
Fields spoke to reporters Thursday and sounded like a man who believed he had lost the starting job.
“I don’t think I played good enough, if I’m being real with you,” Fields said. “If I’m being real with myself, I think if I did play well enough, I don’t think there would be any sort of (question of) who should be playing, who should not.
“At the end of the day, (we) got a few wins. Of course, I’m glad about that, but there’s areas that I could be better at and I’m just going to continue to work on those and continue to get better.”
Fields and Wilson competed for the starting job in training camp, when the latter was bothered by a calf injury. Tomlin made Wilson the QB1 at the end of the preseason, but Wilson’s leg injury crept up before Week 1 and he was inactive for the first five games.
Wilson was a Super Bowl champion with Seattle and came to Pittsburgh on a one-year, veteran-minimum contract after two underwhelming seasons in Denver.
–Field Level Media
