With Russell Wilson close to full health and itching to get back on the field, and the Pittsburgh Steelers coming off an ugly 20-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in which Justin Fields struggled offensively, a quarterback decision could be coming soon for head coach Mike Tomlin.
Or not.
Appearing on ESPN’s Get Up Tuesday morning, Dan Graziano stated that he “didn’t get the sense” while around the Steelers over the weekend leading up to the Sunday Night Football matchup with the Cowboys that a quarterback change was anywhere near a thought for Tomlin and the Steelers.
“I mean, look, we’re gonna hear from Mike Tomlin as we do every week. He’ll talk today at noon eastern, and I’m sure he’ll address this, but my understanding has been that they’ve been happy with the way Fields has played,” Graziano said, according to video via ESPN. “And that given their other issues on offense, right, that the lack of wide receiver depth, they’re down two key running backs the other night they like the idea that Fields can run around and do things to help the offense that probably at this point in his career, Russell Wilson can’t do. I think that works in his favor as well.
“So I would actually be surprised if they turned to Russell Wilson absent an injury to Justin Fields. But if he is getting healthy enough to play, it’s definitely time to figure something out, right? Because I don’t think he’s gonna wanna hang out and be Justin’s backup.”
Graziano has reported multiple times that the Steelers are happy with the way Justin Fields is playing, and prior to Week 5 they should have been happy with his performance. He was making plays down the field, utilizing his legs very well and was really piloting the Steelers’ offense well.
That largely went away on Sunday Night Football against the Cowboys as he threw for just 131 yards. While Fields had two touchdowns and no turnovers, he missed some throws with inaccuracy, didn’t see some throws that were there, and largely didn’t look all that comfortable overall.
It didn’t help that there were at least four key drops on the night from receivers.
After Fields’ struggles, the belief is that with Wilson healthy and gearing up to get back onto the field, the QB situation will be under the microscope this week, which could lead to a change. But based on what Graziano was hearing and feeling over the weekend, that change might not happen.
We’ll see what Tomlin has to say Tuesday during his weekly press conference. The QB situation will be a big topic of discussion, especially after the Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac reported Monday that Wilson was medically cleared two weeks ago. Now he’s got two healthy quarterbacks and an offense that is struggling.
What will Tomlin do?
