Pittsburgh Steelers QB Russell Wilson had his first two full practices since the Wednesday before Week 1, and he seems to be on track to be active for the first time all season on Sunday, although likely as the backup to Justin Fields. NFL insider Mike Garafolo appeared on The Raiders Podcast Network to talk about Sunday’s game between the Steelers and Raiders, and when asked for a bold prediction, he said Wilson will play Sunday.
“I know Mike Tomlin is eager to make it happen, it seems like he’s been in Russ’ corner the whole way,” Garafolo said. “When he made the decision for him to be the starter, it wasn’t a consensus, I would say, within the Steelers’ building. So I’ll say at some point, for some reason, one reason or another, we will see Russell Wilson in this game.”
It’s not the first we’ve heard that it wasn’t a consensus decision to name Wilson the starter, as Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer wrote that some within the Steelers pushed for Fields to start. Of course, Wilson aggravated his calf injury, and that’s what ended up happening, but the Steelers were fully prepared to start Wilson.
Given that the team signed him before trading for Fields, which was a move made due to QB Kenny Pickett not reacting well to the Wilson signing, it makes sense that Tomlin wants to see Wilson play. The original plan for this season was Wilson as their starter, and obviously the Steelers felt they had a better chance of winning with him under center than Fields. While Fields has played well, it’s understandable to see why Tomlin would want to see how the offense looks with Wilson leading it.
While it might be premature for him to play on Sunday — Fields is taking reps with the starters in practice and Wilson the twos — it might not be long before we see Wilson as Pittsburgh’s starter. The offense has only scored six first-half points each of the last two games, and if the group struggles again in Las Vegas, it wouldn’t be a surprise for Tomlin to make a change under center.
Fields has definitely played well enough to make the decision interesting, and we’ll see what direction Tomlin goes in the coming weeks.
