The Pittsburgh Steelers entered Week 1 with a lot of uncertainty at quarterback. Russell Wilson was named the starter two weeks ago, and then aggravated his injured calf last Thursday which forced him to finish the week questionable. He ultimately did not start despite reportedly telling the team that he could play.
Mike Tomlin provided an update during his weekly press conference posted on the Steelers’ YouTube page.
“I just visited with [Russell Wilson]. He feels better today than he did over the weekend,” Tomlin said. “And so what that means, I don’t know. As we sit here today, I know that we’re gonna take the same approach that we take with a lot of people in terms of injury. We’ll first start with his participation and his level of participation, his quality of participation over the course of the week.
“We’ll be analyzing whether he’s capable of protecting himself, whether he is capable of being productive. When we get to those points, that’s when we’ll ponder his inclusion or not.”
While Wilson feels better, the Steelers are taking the approach that they do with all injured players. They will see how the week of practice plays out before making any decisions. The players are off today, but Tomlin said Wilson will not resume practicing in full until Thursday at the earliest, at which point they will meet with doctors to determine the next steps.
Tomlin was asked if Wilson will be able to practice on Thursday.
“I don’t know. I know he got a battery of some movement work for him scheduled for tomorrow, and then, as is our usual practice, we’ll meet with docs after tomorrow’s practice and we’ll probably have some more clarity then,” Tomlin said.
For now, the Steelers are preparing as if Justin Fields is the starter. Some might make that out to be telling of the quarterback competition dynamic, but Wilson is still listed as the starter on the depth chart that was released shortly before the press conference.
Fields got the Steelers out of a road environment with a win in Week 1, which probably lessens the urgency to rush Wilson back onto the field. When his calf first got injured in training camp, the Steelers were extra cautious even with Wilson saying he could practice if they’d let him. There is no reason to think they will rush him back this time around. They can’t risk losing him for an even longer period of time.
When asked directly if Wilson would play if healthy, Tomlin skated around the question by saying that is a big assumption at this point.
One would think Wilson is going to push Tomlin and the other decision makers to play on Sunday given that they are playing against the team that is paying him over $30 million dollars not to play for them this season.
