With Justin Fields and now Russell Wilson, Bucky Brooks believes Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers are having their cake and eating it, too. After getting a quality six-game look at Fields for the future, they now have a viable Wilson for the present. That is realistically as much as Tomlin could have hoped for this year. The only real problem if current trends prevail is managing to afford to retain both, which may not be possible.
“Credit Mike Tomlin for having a long-range view on how he wants his Pittsburgh Steelers to progress over time”, Brooks said yesterday about how he handled the quarterback position between Justin Fields and Russell Wilson over the first seven weeks of the year.
“Mike Tomlin wants to give his team the best chance to win in the postseason by putting a veteran there. What he was able to do, though, see Justin Fields, understand what they have in Justin Fields in the future while talking about the here and now with Russell Wilson, it’s really been the best of both worlds”, he continued. “For the Pittsburgh Steelers, they got an evaluation, but now they can start focusing on how they can have a coronation at the end of the season with Russell Wilson”.
The Steelers signed Russell Wilson as a street free agent in March with the intention to start him. They only traded for Justin Fields after Kenny Pickett requested a trade himself. But even though they acquired him reactively, they still brought him in with a view toward a broader future.
And because of Wilson dealing with a calf injury, the Steelers got the opportunity to preview that potential Fields future. He started the first six games and posted a 4-2 record, accounting for 10 touchdowns against two turnovers. Realistically, they could have gone 5-1 were it not for the defense blowing a fourth-quarter lead against the Dallas Cowboys.
Despite the quality of Justin Fields’ play, however, Tomlin still turned to Russell Wilson, sticking to his original vision. And he also did that based on what Fields showed through six games, or perhaps what he did not. He assessed that Wilson could potentially fill current gaps that Fields could not and made a bold decision for 2024.
“That’s what good head coaches do”, Brooks said of Tomlin going with Wilson over Fields. “They worry about process over results, and he knew that if we’re going to be the team that we want to be in the postseason, we have to throw, we have to be able to create more explosive plays”.
Not only did the Steelers put up a season-high 37 points in Wilson’s Black and Gold debut, they also produced over 400 yards of offense. While Wilson benefited from two defensive takeaways, Fields also played with quality defense. The Steelers had the top-ranked defense the first three weeks of the year before a dip the next two weeks.
