Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin named Russell Wilson the starting quarterback and then started Justin Fields for two weeks. He very much looks likely to start a third week and beyond, though for now that is because of injury.
Wilson injured his calf on the very first day of training camp and hasn’t been 100 percent since. He aggravated the injury shortly before the start of the regular season, forcing the Steelers to pivot to Fields. But if they keep winning with Fields, they could easily stick with that once Wilson is healthy.
Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette couldn’t help wondering if that is the future Tomlin is setting himself up for. Referring to press conference comments on Tuesday, he suggested that Tomlin sounded a different tone.
“He said it was debatable just like it was before the first game of the season”, Fittipaldo said on 93.7 The Fan on Thursday, referring to the Steelers’ quarterback pecking order between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. “And I don’t ever remember him saying that the competition was debatable when he named the starter. He kind of said it was close and they’re going with Russell because of his experience”.
Tomlin did not, of course, say anything about the status of Wilson and Fields being debatable when naming the starter. Perhaps he misspoke and meant to say at the start of Week 2, after Wilson was already injured again. Or perhaps he was trying to rewrite history a bit to make the future easier.
“When I heard that answer, I sort of thought to myself, ‘Okay, maybe he’s laying the groundwork, that maybe he’s trying to have a soft landing there if there’s any kind of controversy’”, Fittipaldo said, meaning continuing with Justin Fields once Russell Wilson is healthy. “I still don’t think we’re there. I still think Justin probably has to keep on winning and continuing to play well for that to be a conversation. But through two games, he’s done a pretty good job”.
Everybody has an opinion about the Steelers’ quarterback situation, of course, with many siding with Justin Fields over Russell Wilson. That now includes former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Others believe that Fields still has more to prove, though, perhaps not much more.
Through two games, Fields is 30-of-43 passing for 273 yards with one touchdown and zero interceptions. He also has 84 rushing yards on 22 attempts. While he has had some snap-exchange issues, by and large he has played smart football. The scoreboard in that regard is less reflective of that than his record.
Tomlin did say at the end of August when he named Russell Wilson the starter that the decision was “difficult in a positive way”, obviously giving credit to Justin Fields. But at no point has he ever framed things as debatable. Unless he meant to refer to the past week or two after Fields had already started, I can’t blame Fittipaldo and others for raising an eyebrow at that particular framing.
