While we might not get a definitive answer until the Pittsburgh Steelers announce their inactives 90 minutes before Sunday night’s tilt against the Dallas Cowboys, one beat writer believes Russell Wilson is trending towards being the true backup QB behind Justin Fields this weekend. Appearing on 93.7 The Fan Thursday evening, the PPG’s Ray Fittipaldo says his sense is that Wilson will be active, but not start this weekend.
“That’s the feeling I’m getting right now, I think,” Fittipaldo told Andrew Fillipponi when asked if he’d bet on Wilson becoming the No. 2. “All along there were gonna be incremental steps in this process and this is one more box to check off.”
Sidelined by a calf injury he aggravated 72 hours before Week 1 began, Wilson has been the team’s No. 3 quarterback and emergency option the first month of the season. That allowed him to dress for each game but only enter if Fields and No. 2 Kyle Allen were to be injured. In that scenario, Wilson would be able to hand the ball off and throw short, static passes from the pocket, giving Pittsburgh a fighting chance to move the ball offensively.
Though Mike Tomlin said Russell Wilson could do more during practice, his daily status has been the same. He’s been listed as limited on Wednesday’s and Thursday’s injury report. Granted, “limited” can mean different things, and to the letter, only indicates a player did not do 100 percent of his usual work. New York Jets QB Aaron Rodgers missed the team stretch line but returned for the rest on Wednesday and still received the “limited” tag due to a knee injury. When Wilson spoke to reporters earlier today, he indicated he received some 11-on-11 reps.
“I feel like I’m right there,” he told reporters Thursday, holding a media session after appearing to not have one last week.
This follows the same track he took in training camp. He started out doing very little the first few days of camp, then worked during individual sessions followed by sporadic 11-on-11 work (he received between one and four team reps during a six-day stretch in camp) before ramping up during the final few days to received “normal” reps. It sounds like he’s about three-quarters of the way through that plan.
But if Wilson is the No. 2 this weekend, it’ll be an implicit admission he’s healthy and that Fields is the starter over him. Mike Tomlin could try to swipe away the notion by pointing out Wilson simply hasn’t had enough reps, but that comment won’t overshadow the headline of “Wilson healthy, Fields still starts.” Fittipaldo could be correct but if I had to make a guess before Friday’s final injury report comes out, Wilson will be the No. 3 for one more week. And a final evaluation on the starting quarterback job will come after the Cowboys game.
