After being limited Thursday and appearing to be limited Friday in practice, based on videos from the South Side, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson’s status appears up in the air for Sunday’s season opener against the Atlanta Falcons.
Speaking with reporters Friday following practice, Wilson wouldn’t go as far as saying he is still expecting to start on Sunday inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. What he did say is that he’s focused on getting his body right to allow him to play against the Falcons.
“Yeah, trying to get my body ready to go and rock and roll, so we’re doing everything we can,” Wilson said to reporters Friday, according to video via the Tribune-Review’s Chris Adamski.
It came out on Thursday after practice that Wilson was limited with a calf injury. That is the same calf he injured on the day before the start of training camp in Latrobe, causing him to miss a handful of practices and then being limited upon his return to drills.
On the final day of training camp, Wilson — who was eventually named the starting quarterback — said that he felt he was “ahead of schedule” and then played in the final two preseason games without issues.
But on Thursday, something happened, causing him to be limited, putting his status for the Steelers’ season opener in question.
“Just felt a little tight. I just wanted to be smart about it, obviously,” Wilson said of his calf, according to video via Adamski. “Play the game on Sunday, so I’m hoping I get to be in it obviously. But just trying to try to get ready to go.”
Part of trying to get ready to go appeared to be rather limited on Friday again. Based on videos posted to Twitter by beat reporters, Wilson was off on the side throughout, going through stretches, throwing on his own and limiting his movement.
Wilson told reporters after practice that he didn’t really do much during practice, outside of focusing on some throws to keep his arm sharp. He did some minor stuff in team drills as well.
“I just tried to focus on the throws really. We didn’t try to do too much. They try to be smart knowing that we have all today and tomorrow and then obviously Sunday morning,” Wilson said.
In a follow-up tweet during Wilson’s media session, ESPN’s Brooke Pryor stated that Wilson says the imaging that came back from his testing Thursday regarding the calf injury showed good news at least.
We’ll see what the Steelers’ Friday injury report –it is the final one of the week — has to say and how Wilson’s game status is labeled in the hours ahead.
