The first game of the year for the Pittsburgh Steelers is going to be a big test for all the changes they made this offseason. The Atlanta Falcons aren’t going to be a pushover, especially because they added quarterback Kirk Cousins, who has been an above-average starter for several years now. When asked to choose a winner for this game, CBS Sports analyst Pete Prisco chose the team that he feels has a quarterback who can still play.
“One of them is still good, and the other one’s not,” Prisco said on CBS Sports HQ. “Kirk Cousins can still play, at least in regular-season games that aren’t defined as big games. He’ll put up some good numbers, and for that reason, I’ll take the Falcons. I think they’re the better offense.
“Defensively, the Steelers will still be good. They’ll still be the physical, tough team that they always are, but I think the better offense will show up in this one.”
This game could basically go either way, so Prisco isn’t wrong for taking the Falcons, but his reasoning is a little confusing. It isn’t that Cousins isn’t a good player anymore, but he suffered a major injury last year. He tore his Achilles during the middle of the season, and he’s 36 years old. There’s no guarantee that he’s the same player this year, especially in Week 1.
Cousins could still be just as good this year as he has been, but he didn’t play at all during the preseason. The game against the Steelers will be his first bit of real action since he tore his Achilles. Prisco can’t just assume that Cousins will be the same player.
Prisco also seems to have a low opinion on Russell Wilson. It’s fair to say Wilson isn’t as good as he once was, but he still wasn’t bad last year. At the very least, he’s better than what the Steelers had at quarterback last year. He has flaws, but he’s also still talented. It probably isn’t fair to call him bad yet.
This will all probably get solved once the game is over. If Wilson has an awful game and Cousins picks up right where he left off, then Prisco is totally correct. However, there is a world where Cousins struggles in his first game back, leaving the door open for the Steelers to win. The Falcons are better offensively than the Steelers on paper, but nothing is set in stone until the bullets actually start to fly.
