The Pittsburgh Steelers pride themselves on being a great defensive team. That’s been the standard since the 1970s. Today’s team carries on that tradition well, dragging the Steelers to victory sometimes. That’s mostly because their offense has been downright horrible over the last few years. They started off this season well but have since fallen off. For that reason, former NFL running back LeSean McCoy believes the Steelers’ defense could want to see Russell Wilson as the starting quarterback.
“[The defense has] been doing this for the last couple years, having regular average quarterback play and, ‘We have to save the day,'” McCoy said Friday on FS1’s The Facility. “Get [Wilson] in there because he’s won games. Last year, not even the old Seattle [Wilson], he beat some top teams. It would be a breath of fresh air for the defensive guys.”
It’s true that, while with the Denver Broncos last year, Wilson did beat some decent teams. That list includes the Green Bay Packers, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Buffalo Bills. However, it’s the NFL, and any team can win on any given day. Results from a different team’s game last year shouldn’t have a heavy influence on what the Steelers do now.
Wilson isn’t as bad as some people made him out to be this offseason, but he also isn’t a franchise quarterback anymore. Last year, Justin Fields also led the Chicago Bears to a win over the Detroit Lions. McCoy could make the same argument for him that he’s making for Wilson. Neither of them is a superstar, but they’ve shown that they can win with the right pieces around them.
That’s really the story with the Steelers offensively at the moment. Quarterback is the least of their worries. They should be more concerned with their inability to run the ball. If they can’t do that well, then it won’t matter who’s throwing the ball.
The Steelers’ defense also has some of its own problems. It hasn’t been the offense’s fault that unit has struggled over the last few weeks. The Steelers couldn’t stop Joe Flacco and the Indianapolis Colts. They also couldn’t contain the Dallas Cowboys’ poor rushing attack. The offense should’ve capitalized more on the turnovers the defense created last Sunday, but the defense still had its own issues.
It’s tough to say that Wilson would fix all of the Steelers’ problems on offense and defense. There are probably only a handful of quarterbacks in NFL history who are that good. The Steelers’ offense hasn’t been great, but Fields is not the reason for that. Maybe Wilson will get a shot soon, but hopefully the Steelers clean up some of the other parts of their offense before then.
