Former NFL QB says he was led astray regarding Steelers QB battle, 'Bamboozled' by Mike Tomlin

For whatever reason, the prevailing thought among the national media this offseason, training camp and preseason, was that a QB battle was going on in Pittsburgh.

Truthfully, when HC Mike Tomlin told Kenny Pickett that Russell Wilson was coming in to start, it didn't matter if it was Pickett, Justin Fields, or Mason Rudolph behind him, Wilson was going to be the starter.

Yet some feel that they were led astray, with Dan Orlovsky of ESPN being one of them:

Bamboozled?

"I would've started Justin Fields, but this was never a quarterback competition. We were bamboozled a little bit," Orlovsky said on ESPN's Get Up on Monday. "I have endless amounts of respect for Mike Tomlin. There was no way that this is a quarterback competition. Russell Wilson missed practice and only played in essentially one game. I remember when both of the moves were made and we said if this was really going to be an open quarterback competition, I expected Justin Fields to win that. This was never a quarterback competition. Russell played in preseason Week 2. He threw the ball twice against the [Lions]...

"...But this was never a quarterback competition. If it was, Russell would've played much more in preseason Week 3 this past weekend. I would've started Justin Fields, and I would've tried to minimize the riding of the wave. That's not the case in Pittsburgh."

To be fair to Coach Tomlin, he notes every position as constantly being evaluated and always in competition. There was never a time Coach T definitively said the position was up for grabs.

Just last week, Tomlin told the media that nothing had changed regarding the division of labor in the QB room or Russell Wilson's pole positioning .

Now, Tomlin has played into the narrative a little bit, having yet to name his starting QB , but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that it will be #3 under center when the team heads south to take on the Atlanta Falcons in less than two weeks.

Related: Steelers' recent first-rounder could reportedly be on the outside looking in as a Week 1 starter