The Pittsburgh Steelers might be 1-0, but there’s still a gray cloud looming over their heads. There’s just as much uncertainty about their quarterback position now as there was during training camp, which can create questions and distractions that the team doesn’t need. However, Najee Harris stated Thursday that the team isn’t worried about that at all.
“We’re going play on Sunday against the Denver Broncos no matter what,” Harris said via Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “The whole part of the week is to get ready to play the Denver Broncos. Us as a team, us as captains on this team, we gotta get the guys ready to play against the Denver Broncos. We’re not worried about who’s that quarterback. We’re not spending all week worrying about who’s gonna be at quarterback.”
That’s the exact mindset that the players should have. They aren’t in charge of devising the game plan or scheming how to beat the Broncos. They just execute the game plan that the coaches have for them. Their opinions matter, but they have no power over who is at quarterback.
Just as well, for a player like Harris, the unclear quarterback situation should matter less. He’s the Steelers’ lead running back, and he should be ready to support whoever is at quarterback. His level of preparation shouldn’t change. That goes for most of the players on offense, especially with how similarly Russell Wilson and Justin Fields play.
If Fields is starting, maybe the receivers will be more prepared to block for him on account of his running ability. There are little changes like that where players are adjusting, but overall, they’re focused on beating the Broncos, not who is throwing the football. For many of these players, they’ve already played with multiple different quarterbacks with the Steelers, and they’ve still won games.
The real burden falls on the coaches. Once Wilson is healthy, they’ll be faced with a tough decision. If Fields continues to win games, it could be hard to put him back on the bench. However, Wilson won the initial quarterback battle, so the Steelers could want to insert him back into the starting lineup.
Whatever happens, Harris and the rest of the team are solely focused on winning. In Week 1, they showed that, battling against the late change at quarterback to defeat the Atlanta Falcons. This week, they have more time to prepare, and hopefully it leads to similar results.
