Wilson emergency QB in season opener

PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Declared the starting quarterback just over a week ago, Russell Wilson went into the Steelers season opener in Atlanta as the emergency, third-string quarterback.

Thursday during individual drills, Wilson noticed his calf tightening and was limited in practice the rest of that day and Friday. He was listed as questionable and said he would do what he could to play Sunday, but also wanted to be smart with his injury.

The injury occurred while the 35-year-old was pushing a sled during conditioning drills on the first day of training camp in Latrobe.

“I've been very fortunate with my whole career to not have many injuries,” Wilson said Thursday. “I think the most important thing, though, it’s unfortunate, but we respond, right? We’ve got to react and respond. And, my head's up. I think that's really my focus is, it's not on anything before.”

Wilson had worked the entire offseason, including team Organized Team Activities and mandatory mini-camp as the starting quarterback with no issues. He missed the first couple of weeks of team drills due to the tightness in his calf, but return for the last preseason game and until Thursday, had no apparent issues.

Game two is Sunday in Denver, the team that is paying most of his salary this season to not play for them.