One of the biggest debates of the NFL offseason revolved around whether Russell Wilson or Justin Fields would be the Week 1 starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
And while the Steelers and head coach Mike Tomlin played it up that both players were challenging one another for the starting job, ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky believes the team was a bit disingenuous about how much of a competition it actually was.
“I would’ve started Justin Fields but this was never a quarterback competition,” Orlovsky said . “We were bamboozled a little bit. I have endless amounts of respect for Mike Tomlin, there’s no way that this was a quarterback competition. Russell missed practice and played in essentially one game. … We said if this was really going to be an open quarterback competition, I expected Justin Fields to win that. This was never a competition.”
Aug 17, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields (2) runs away from Buffalo Bills defensive end Kingsley Jonathan (59) during the second quarter at Acrisure Stadium.
Barry Reeger-USA TODAY Sports
The contrast in how much each QB practiced during camp and played during the preseason indicated Tomlin may have made up his mind log before the team took the field for its preseason opener against the Houston Texans on Aug. 9.
“Russell played in preseason Week 2, he threw the ball twice against [the Lions in Week 3],” Orlovsky added. “Now, Justin Fields has had the ups and downs…I thought he threw the ball really against the Detroit Lions. Everyone is going to say he took two more sacks — neither of them were on him. So, I understand the premise of they’re banking on the hopeful more consistency from Russell Wilson, but this was never a competition. If it was, Russell would’ve played much more in preseason Week 3.”
Wilson missed quite a bit of practice time during camp with a calf injury, and he had just 15 drop backs in two games, per Pro Football Focus, compared to 38 for Fields and 32 for Kyle Allen.
Tomlin told reporters over the weekend he would decide who his starting QB is this week with the team having three more practices on the books.
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