Entering Week 3 of the 2024 season, veteran quarterback Russell Wilson remains sidelined with a calf injury, one that popped up late in the week while preparing for the season-opener against the Atlanta Falcons. It has kept him out of the lineup the first two weeks of the season as the Pittsburgh Steelers have gone 2-0.
In his place, backup quarterback Justin Fields is doing just enough to help the Steelers win games. He’s not lighting it up, but he’s not making the killer mistakes either like he did in the past in Chicago, leading to the Bears’ struggles.
With the Steelers 2-0, Wilson still hurt and Fields making progress, the Steelers are keeping it status quo under center, with head coach Mike Tomlin telling reporters Tuesday that nothing’s changed at QB and that he is out of ways to tell reporters that in simplest terms.
Despite hearing that from Tomlin, former NFL offensive lineman Mark Schlereth, who has been rather harsh on Wilson throughout the offseason, appeared on FS1’s “Breakfast Ball” and called Wilson’s calf injury a “convenient excuse” and that there’s no urgency for him to recover from the Steelers’ perspective.
“It makes me think this is a convenient excuse because if Justin Fields was turning the ball over, I have a sneaking suspicion that Russell Wilson’s calf would be better than it is right now,” Schlereth said, according to audio via the show. “There would be more urgency to get Russell Wilson in there right now. When you’re not sure about a player or a player is doing his job fairly well, you’re like, ‘Take your time, it’s okay, Russ. We’re gonna be okay. We don’t need you right now.’ Now if there was turnovers and you were losing games, I think there would be more urgency.
“And I’m not saying he’s not hurt, but everybody’s hurt. Everybody plays hurt, everybody goes through that. So I just wonder how…listen, let me say one thing: there’s no urgency.”
Wilson isn’t exactly the type of guy to be questioning when it comes to not being out there because of an injury. But that appears to be exactly what Schlereth is trying to do.
Yes, players play through injuries all the time. Wilson has done it in the past. But the Steelers were afforded the luxury of turning to a solid backup in Fields, allowing them to put Wilson on the bench and heal in an attempt to avoid the lingering calf injury from getting worse.
It doesn’t come off as a convenient excuse considering the Steelers planned on having Wilson hold down the most important role in professional sports for at least the 2024 season, that being the franchise’s starting quarterback.
As Tomlin stated Tuesday, Wilson hasn’t been medically cleared. There’s no conspiracy theory there. He’s not healthy enough to play, even with him dressing as the emergency QB3. So, the Steelers move forward with Fields as the quarterback as Wilson continues to work his way back.
That’s it, that’s all. The Steelers don’t have to rush Wilson because they are finding ways to win with Fields under center. It’s not an excuse, it’s just reality.
