Mike Tomlin doesn’t just have to pick his starting quarterback. He’s gotta convince his locker room it was the correct choice. That was the analysis of former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi during a Tuesday appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, pointing out the competing viewpoints in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ locker room.
“There’s probably a group of people who think Russell [Wilson] should start,” Lombardi told the show. “There’s probably a group who thinks [Justin] Fields should start. There’s probably a group that’s wondering, ‘Why the hell didn’t we sign Mason Rudolph back.’ So Mike’s gotta convince the room he gives us the best chance.”
It’s a softer but more accurate take of similar media personalities, concerned about locker room division over the team’s starting quarterback. An issue that appeared to play out last year as the Steelers decided to play Rudolph over a healthy Kenny Pickett late in the season.
Publicly, Tomlin has kept it an open competition between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. Though the odds seem heavily in favor of Wilson getting the nod, Tomlin has yet to make a declaration to the media and, presumably, to the team.
Giving his opinion of who makes sense, Lombardi thinks Tomlin will stick with Wilson because he’s more trusted to take care of the football.
“The main decision for Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh is who is going to protect the football. He’s about protecting the ball,” he said. “Russell Wilson was seventh in the National Football League in not throwing interceptions last year. He did protect the ball for the most part.”
That’s been the model the Steelers have used post-Ben Roethlisberger and why Mitch Trubisky struggled as much as he did. With a poor offense but top-tier defense, Pittsburgh is far more capable to win 17-14 than it is 31-28. Turnovers make life harder on the defense to get stops on short fields and increase the number of possessions it has to defend, naturally creating more chances for the opponent to score. Simply put, when the Steelers win, they don’t turn the ball over. When they give it away, they don’t.
Wilson, as Lombardi notes, has been smarter with the ball than Fields, one of the most turnover-prone quarterbacks in football since being drafted. While the Steelers want to tweak their model, perhaps playing a bit more aggressively to score more points, they’re not going to throw 30 on the scoreboard each week. Which means not beating yourself with turnovers and unforced errors. And why Wilson will almost certainly be the starter to open the season.
It’s a decision Tomlin probably doesn’t even need to sell. It’s one the locker room already knows is coming.
