The Pittsburgh Steelers are gearing up for QB Russell Wilson to start his first game for the team against the New York Jets on Sunday night. It will be Steelers fans’ first look at Wilson in a meaningful game for the Steelers after missing the first six games with a calf injury.
But it’s the fact that the Steelers went 4-2 with Justin Fields under center that has people a bit confused. Just don’t count Mark Kaboly among that group. He knows why he would make the switch in this situation.
“Russell throws a better ball,” said Kaboly on Friday’s episode of the PM Team on 93.7 the Fan. “It just comes out of his hand quicker, faster, more accurate, that whole thing. You could just see it. That’s what I’ve seen for a while now and that’s what I base a lot of things on, just how he throws the ball. Now, that doesn’t really gonna, you know, relate into absolute success. I’m sure there’s gonna be some issues going on here with potential offensive line and everything else. But I think throwing the ball is going to be, you’re gonna look at it and say you’ll see it. I mean, you’ll see it right away and say, ‘Okay, he’s a better thrower than Justin.’ Now, is he a better overall fit and be able to produce more points? I guess that’s what we’re gonna find out on Sunday.”
I don’t think there’s anyone that would tell you that, over the course of their careers so far, Russell Wilson isn’t a better thrower of the ball than Justin Fields. Every metric shows that. Wilson has a career completion percentage of 64.7 percent in the regular season. He’s thrown for 330 career regular-season touchdowns. He’s won a Super Bowl and played in a second.
That’s not to say Fields hasn’t shown improvement with the Steelers, though. He’s completing 66.3 percent of his passes with the Steelers, by far a career-high. He’s made some beautiful throws as well.
But Fields is still not consistent in throwing the ball. He struggles with varying the speed of his throws. That showed up against the Las Vegas Raiders last Sunday, potentially Fields’ last start for a while. With the Steelers inside the Raiders’ 10-yard line, offensive coordinator Arthur Smith dialed up a swing pass to RB Jaylen Warren with TE/FB Connor Heyward out in front blocking.
But rather than delivering a pass with touch to lead Warren upfield, Fields simply zipped the pass to Warren. Thankfully for the Steelers, Warren was able to recover the fumble because it was thrown laterally.
But people point to throws like that to show Fields still has a long way to go. And Wilson should be able to make those throws more consistently, which is exactly Kaboly’s point.
Kaboly does point out that there are questions beyond the quarterback position that will impact Wilson’s performance. The offensive line has dealt with injury issues from the start of the season. And rookie C Zach Frazier is out with an ankle injury.
Plus, the issues at wide receiver are well-documented. The Steelers missed out on San Francisco 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk over the summer and former Raiders WR Davante Adams over the last week. Now Adams will be suiting up for the Jets in Pittsburgh on Sunday night.
So just how big of a positive impact Wilson will have on the Steelers offense remains to be seen. But Kaboly is certain that Steelers fans will see Russell Wilson throwing the ball noticeably better than Justin Fields.
