It’s now official that Russell Wilson will be the Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting quarterback, and after his performance in training camp and the preseason, former Steelers offensive tackle and current analyst Max Starks isn’t surprised. Appearing on The SiriusXM Blitz on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Starks explained why he likes Wilson for the Steelers.
“This is a guy who’s successful, does not throw a lot of interceptions, is very safe with the football, and can still make all the football throws and has a knowledge bank that’s as deep as any other quarterback that’s out here today,” Starks said.
Starks also said that it wasn’t a real competition, and that Fields only would’ve came into play if Wilson struggled. After leading a touchdown drive against the Lions, it was set that he would start.
“He went in one series, did everything, the ball moved, got in the end zone,” Starks said. “What else is there to see?”
While Wilson wasn’t great in Pittsburgh’s second preseason game against the Buffalo Bills, the offensive line struggled, and he still completed the passes he had to make. Really, it was going to take a lot for Wilson to be relegated to backup duty after being put in pole position. After he looked healthy in his return from his calf injury, the decision was more or less set in stone.
It’s not one that should be surprising as Wilson leads an offense in a way that can be beneficial for the Steelers. Limiting turnovers is especially important for a team that has a really talented defense and can lean on the run. And if the Steelers can control the clock with their ground game and Wilson making the throws he has to, the offense will be fine.
His penchant for taking sacks could wind up being the downfall of Pittsburgh’s offense, but Fields has the same issues while being less steady and more turnover-prone than Wilson. It’s worth taking the good with the bad, and ideally, his sack totals go down this season after taking 100 total sacks over the past two seasons.
Wilson and the Steelers open the season Week 1 with a pretty big test in the Atlanta Falcons, and that’s when we’ll really get our first look at Wilson in this offense. The scheme was limited for him against Buffalo and we only saw a few plays against Detroit, so it’s going to be really interesting to see how Wilson looks in the offense in a big game. Given that the Steelers went 10-7 with below-average quarterback play last season, it’s fair to think that Wilson could take this offense to another level and help the Steelers return to the postseason.
