The Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t going to name their starting quarterback until the end of the week, and ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith isn’t happy about it. On First Take this morning, Smith said he thinks it’s telling that the Steelers haven’t seen enough from Russell Wilson or Justin Fields to name one of them the starter yet.
“I’m not happy about it, because all it says to me is that nobody has stood out. You know the old adage, if you got two quarterbacks, you really got none,” said Smith, a noted Steelers fan. “I don’t want to hear about a decision hasn’t been made yet, that doesn’t make me happy, because that says to me we still haven’t decided if either is good enough that stands out above the crowd to be the starting quarterback of this team.”
Smith added that it feels like the “same old, same old” with lackluster quarterback play for the Steelers.
Co-host Shannon Sharpe chimed in and said that the team should have seen enough out of one of the quarterbacks to name a starter.
It doesn’t really seem like Pittsburgh’s decision to not name a starter has anything to do with them not seeing enough out of either guy. In the preseason finale against Detroit on Saturday, they played Russell Wilson one series, and he led a touchdown drive before being pulled. If the Steelers felt they hadn’t seen enough, Wilson would’ve played more than one series.
Chris Hoke surmised that it could be some gamesmanship from Pittsburgh’s end to make the Falcons keep practicing for the read option and some of the designed quarterback runs that the Steelers have for Fields in practice this week. The Steelers are also having respect for their own process by giving each guy another week of work against their own defense in practice.
All signs are pointing to Wilson being the starter, which has been the prevailing thought all offseason. Ever since Mike Tomlin said Wilson was in “pole position” back in March, Wilson has been the guy that most assumed would be QB1, and it would take something drastic for Fields to win the job. There will likely be a package of plays for Fields to use his athleticism and add another dynamic at the quarterback position, but Wilson will see the majority of snaps under center, at least in the early part of the season.
The decision not to name Wilson or Fields the starter outright isn’t something to worry about, although Smith’s fears of the quarterback room being lackluster again are fair. Wilson and Fields should be an upgrade over what Pittsburgh has had, but nothing is assured and neither of them have really stood out in a major way to give any sort of real confidence that they’ll shine. But we haven’t seen much of Wilson in the preseason, and I’m still confident that the quarterback play will be noticeably better this season.
