Pittsburgh Steelers QB Russell Wilson finally made it on the field at Saint Vincent College on Tuesday. It was in a limited capacity, as he only handed the ball off twice in 11-on-11 team drills. However, he did take snaps in 7-on-7s and got to warm up his arm a bit. But QB Justin Fields continues to get the majority of first-team reps.
It’s not how anyone truly pictured training camp starting. The plan was for Russell Wilson to start in the ‘pole position’, but it’s been Fields running out front. It looks like Wilson will be back in full shortly, as the Steelers are taking it easy with him.
But could Fields turn this extended opportunity into winning the starting spot come Week 1?
“This feels like a Wally Pipp situation that could come about here,” Former NFL OL Damien Woody said on Tuesday’s episode of ESPN NFL Live. “Where Wally Pipp was the [first baseman] for the Yankees, didn’t feel very great, didn’t play. Then, next thing you know, Lou Gehrig takes over. The rest is history. I think that’s Russell Wilson. Obviously, he has the calf strain. But when you talk about quarterback competition, you want to be out there. You don’t want to give away any reps to your competition.”
The Pipp-Gehrig situation for the New York Yankees was so famous that it became the standard for an injured veteran being replaced by a young up-and-comer throughout the sports world. Gehrig replaced Pipp, who complained of having a headache, to start a Tuesday afternoon game. It was the second consecutive game Gehrig played in, and it was the second game in Gehrig’s record-setting 2,130 consecutive appearances.
Obviously, this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison. We’re still in July at the time of publishing. The Steelers have only taken to the practice field in pads once. However, the greatest attribute of an athlete is availability. Fields has been healthy for every single practice, while Wilson has only participated in one practice in a limited fashion.
Fields hasn’t been perfect, but he’s certainly made plays. The latest one came during seven shots Tuesday afternoon, and it couldn’t have been a better throw.
That George Pickens one-handed catch vs Joey Porter Jr. from earlier 7 shots on Tuesday has surfaced via @Mazursky8895 #Steelers #NFL 🔥🔥pic.twitter.com/9kediHF2gt
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) July 30, 2024
Fields takes the snap and floats a ball to the right back corner of the end zone. WR George Pickens reaches out one-handed while fighting off tight coverage from CB Joey Porter Jr. and hauls it in for the touchdown. A lot of credit goes to Pickens, of course. But it was a perfectly placed throw where Porter could not make a play on it.
A few more of those, and maybe, just maybe, Fields could Pipp Wilson.
