Does Russell Wilson bring the Steelers closer to winning playoff games?
If Mike Tomlin does replace Justin Fields with Russell Wilson, after all, this would be the reason. The Steelers are all about winning, so if Wilson plays, it’s because Tomlin believes they can win more with him. But is that right?
We’ll first have to confirm that the Steelers are actually going to start Russell Wilson, of course. We all assume Tomlin has already made that decision, and I believe that he has. But seeing is believing where I come from, and we haven’t seen Wilson on the field.
For the time being, however, we are assuming Russell Wilson will start on Sunday, and the rest of the year. Does Wilson better equip the Steelers to win games, and win games in the postseason? What does it mean to be able to win games in the postseason, exactly?
Generally, offensively, we associate playoff-winning teams with prolific passing games. The Super Bowl champion is almost always one of the teams with the relative handful of “franchise” quarterbacks. Russell Wilson at least has that resume, even if his Super Bowl win is over a decade old.
We assume that Wilson can offer a more consistent and high-volume passing game than Justin Fields, who has averaged under 190 passing yards in six games. While Wilson was never the 5,000-yard type of passer, he hasn’t averaged below 200 yards since his rookie year. And he averages 30 attempts per game.
One of the big concerns many have is whether Wilson lacks the mobility the Steelers need behind this offensive line. One can easily point to a series of plays Justin Fields turned from a positive into a negative through his sheer athleticism, plays Wilson would tear his calf to shreds attempting to make.
But if Russell Wilson can run a more balanced offense that makes defenses respect the passing game, that could offset many concerns. And while Fields escaped a lot of pressure through his athleticism, he also sometimes created that pressure. He didn’t always make his own offensive line look good, for a variety of reasons. Wilson shares some of those same issues, but to a lesser degree, and with more pro-offensive-line traits.
The Steelers’ 2024 season is underway, following another disappointing year ending in a first-round playoff loss. They have had a long offseason since the Buffalo Bills stamped them out of their misery back in January. There are positive signs, but things could jump off the rails any moment.
The biggest question hanging over the team is the quarterback question. Will Russell Wilson regain his job when he is healthy, or is Justin Fields stealing it? How will the team continue to address the depth chart, which is surprisingly still in flux?
The regular season is here, following weeks of camp and preseason games. The Steelers made numerous moves through signings and trade—and release. More than usual, they seemed comfortable creating holes, confident they can fill them. Some they managed to fill, others not so much. Now that we have so many pieces of the puzzle, however, we merely have a new set of questions to ask.
