Steelers OC Arthur Smith suggests Russell Wilson had no business making his debut last week

Russell Wilson has been taking it on the shins this week following his debut against the Buffalo Bills.

Some going as far as to say they should cut him and sign a current free agent , Wilson has been the brunt of the offense's scrutiny, even if Pittsburgh has bigger issues according to Bill Belichick.

But according to Steelers OC Arthur Smith, Wilson shouldn't have been in that situation to begin with:

Smith Credits Russ for playing

“He [Russell Wilson] wanted to play … he hasn’t gotten a lot of reps,” Smith said. “I don’t care how many years you’ve been in this thing, whether you’re in a new system, a new city, whatever it is, the great ones want to get out there and sharpened up to play. There’s things schematically you don’t want to put him in a hard way. There’s risk in everything when you step out there. So I think that limited him a little bit. I give him credit for being out there.”

The calf injury that Wilson suffered upon the onset of camp might end up being one of the biggest storylines of the Steelers season. Wilson may still win the starting job, but what started as a 90-10 chance of him learning the role now feels like a coin flip ahead of Saturday's preseason finale against the Detroit Lions, one that Russell looks to take part in:

“We are all playing, Wilson told the media when asked if starters would play against Detroit. "I’m excited to get back on the field. Last week was great to be out there for the first time, obviously we didn’t get the win. I think the big thing for us is executing, making our plays, and doing our thing.”

Look, Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, and the rest of the offense surely didn't inspire confidence in the fanbase, and to say optimism should be high is undoubtedly refutable. But preseason is far from the real thing, something Arthur Smith wanted to stress on Tuesday:

“Preseason record doesn’t go on your permanent record,” Smith said. “It’s the old joke where Indy went 0-for every year, and they won 13 games almost automatically with Peyton (Manning)...

"...The longer you’ve been in this, I go back to my own experiences, in 2019 (in Tennessee), I didn’t think we were great in the preseason and come opening day we scored 40-something points (43) against the Browns. I’m not saying we’re going to do that in Atlanta (in Week 1), but we hope to. It’s just, you’ve got to have context.”

Related: Steelers’ recent first-round pick takes accountability for poor preseason 'Got to be better'