Russell Wilson has now gone through a spring with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he wants to see more. Now that they are in training camp, he knows that we still start to get a much clearer picture. After years of searching for an identity, they feel they have one, but are they right? Everybody feels like they know where they are until they have to put it all to the test.
Wilson is ready to watch his team take that test and see if they pass or not. Because he has been around long enough to know that you can’t always tell who you are in May. He likes the work that they have put in so far, but that was all leading up to this point. And this work to come is all leading to the ultimate goal of a championship.
“I think that we had a great offseason, I think that OTAs was exceptional”, Wilson said, via the team’s website. “Going against a great defense every day, one of the top defenses in the league, we did a good job of just competing every day and being the best of us”.
“The best thing is that we get to put the pads on now”, he added. “I always say that the reality is you get to figure out who are men and who can really play in this league a long time and who can be physical and who can make plays when tested and all those things”.
Of course, the Steelers don’t actually put pads on until Tuesday. Today is merely the Steelers’ first training camp practice, and there is a ramp-up period to full contact. And quarterbacks—ergo, Russell Wilson—won’t have to deal with much contact, personally. Whoever touches him is going to get himself into trouble with the coaches, because they’re too valuable.
But Wilson isn’t wrong in what he says about this particular Steelers team. For the past two years, they have established a clear goal of building themselves up as a physical team. New offensive coordinator Arthur Smith attacked his group with a Power Point presentation about it, so this isn’t new. This is an offense that needs to hit and smack people around to find out if they are who they think they are.
While the Steelers brought in Russell Wilson, the running game is still the bread and butter of the unit. That includes not just the running backs but also the rebuilt offensive line. They have to figure out if their rookies are ready to play, and you find that out in pads.
Earlier this offseason, Wilson talked about the intensity of the Steelers’ OTA practices. “Every rep feels like a playoff rep”, he said, and, well, they don’t even do much in May. I’m sure some of that was blowing smoke, but what did he say about the Seahawks’ and Broncos’ OTAs?
