The
Pittsburgh Steelers‘ QB situation has been one of the major topics of discussion in the past week. There have been a lot of concerns swirling over
Russell Wilson taking the QB1 spot from young Justin Fields during their Sunday’s clash against the
New York Jets. Although Mike Tomlin hasn’t announced it yet, Wilson was seen taking the first team reps during this week’s practice, following which the 35-year-old QB starting at the Acrisure Stadium seems more certain. However, former Redskins Guard Mark Schlereth has questioned the Steelers HC’s decision of starting Wilson over Fields.
In the latest episode of the Stinking Truth, the 58-year-old ex-NFLer has shared his concerns over starting the ex-Broncos QB instead of Fields as he feels that doing so would make things easy for
Aaron Rodgers and Co. As per Schlereth, Fields would be a harder opponent to defend against. He blamed the Steelers for their ongoing QB controversy. The former Guard said,
“The thing that is mindboggling to me is you don’t ever want to be embroiled in a quarterback controversy and yet you’ve created your controversy. Yes, you could just say ‘Hey man Justin we’re 4-2 and you can move on’ but this whole time you’ve said ‘Well you know Russ isn’t healthy yet so we’ll evaluate when the time comes’ and now it’s ‘Hey Russ is going to get some of you know some of the uh reps the first-team reps'”. ADVERTISEMENT
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Schlereth also speculated that the rumor of starting Russ over Fields might also be a trick to divert the Jets into preparing for the 35-year-old whilst the Steelers surprisingly start with the 25-year-old on Sunday. He said that he couldn’t imagine “being four and two and saying yep I’m gonna change my quarterback now”.
Well to be fair, it surely does seem odd that Tomlin decided to replace Fields, who gave his team a 3-0 start to this season. He has completed 106 of 160 passes, along with 5 TDs and one interception for 1106 yards. His start surely helped the team a lot, especially after losing Wilson, who actually was supposed to be the team’s QB1 but was side-lined before the season with a calf injury.
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Now all we can do is wait to see if Russ does start as the Steelers’ QB1 tonight as speculated. Or are the rumors just a decoy to divert the opponents from the real threat, Fields? In case Russ does start, he would surely be under a lot of pressure as it will be his debut for the Steelers and a lot of expectation would be on him as he would replace an in-form quarterback.
NFL insider shares possible reason behind the Steelers’ sudden decision to bring in Russell Wilson
NFL insider Mark Kaboly has shared a possible reason why the Pittsburgh Steelers are suddenly planning to start Russell Wilson as QB instead of Justin Fields. Fields did start well for the Steelers, in the absence of their primary QB1. However, as things now stand, it seems, that whatever he did wasn’t enough to cement his position in the starting lineup.
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In a an interview on 93.7 The Fan, Kaboly mentioned Wilson’s ability to throw was the key reason behind the team’s sudden decision to bench Fields and start the veteran. He said, “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.”
However, the insider also mentioned that even though Wilson is a “better thrower than Justin”, whether he is a better overall choice than the 25-year-old is a whole different question. Last season the 35-year-old star played 15 games for the Broncos, completing 297 of 447 passes, with 26 TDs and 8 interceptions for 3,070 yards. However, after making his move to Pittsburgh, he has been out for the first six weeks of the 2024 season due to his injury. So now it needs to be seen how he performs in his first start as it might dictate his spot in the team for the upcoming matches.
Debate
Is Mike Tomlin risking the Steelers' season by choosing Russell Wilson over the in-form Justin Fields?