Steelers offense prepared to face Jets with Russell Wilson the starting QB

More than seven months after the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Russell Wilson to be their quarterback and seven weeks into the regular season, teammates on offense finally completed a week of practice preparation and entered a game weekend with the knowledge Wilson would be their starter.

“He’s loud, and he’s gonna communicate,” right tackle Broderick Jones said of Wilson after Friday’s practice at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “That’s what I like. I just hope he can go out there and perform because he’s coming back from a leg injury so we hope he’ll be able to shake that off and get back to being his old self.”

The 35-year-old Wilson wrapped up a week of first-team reps without any apparent aggravation of the calf injury that kept him out for multiple weeks during training camp and when the regular season began.

Everyone from coach Mike Tomlin to myriad teammates confirmed that much. But Tomlin remained reluctant Friday to formally announce Wilson would make his Steelers debut as the starter in Sunday night’s home game against the New York Jets.

“I am just gonna keep that in-house,” Tomlin said when asked if Wilson would start. “But I thought (Wilson) was sharp (at practice).”

As was tacitly apparent all week, it was obvious from those players who did speak to reporters Friday that the plan is that Wilson will be in the huddle for the first snap against New York.

“(We’ve been) getting on the same page after practice, throwing more than usual because this is his first start,” receiver George Pickens said.

Wilson might be on track to make his first start with the Steelers, but he has 188 prior starts over the past 12 seasons — 10 of which with the Seattle Seahawks. Wilson was a nine-time Pro Bowler with Seattle and twice played in a Super Bowl, winning a title after the 2013 season.

“He just has been in it for 13 years, so he has seen so much and he knows so much so when he’s in those crunch-time moments he doesn’t shy away from those,” Jones said. “It’s something he brings to the game and our offense, just having that experience and that demeanor about himself.”

Wilson was not even listed on the injury report this week. He was a full participant for each practice the past two weeks. Before that, the most recent time Wilson was listed as a full participant was the first practice of the season subject to an injury report: Sept. 4. The next day, the calf injury he suffered on reporting day to training camp flared up, and Justin Fields took over as the starter.

Fields led the Steelers to a 4-2 start and has accounted for 10 touchdowns (five rushing) and only one turnover after being acquired in a trade from the Chicago Bears days after signing Wilson in March.

That stretch improved Fields to 14-30 in his career as a starter. Wilson on Sunday will apparently get his chance to improve his career record of 115-72-1.

“It’s the first game of the year for me,” Wilson said Thursday. “But you know, I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of first games. So the confidence is there, obviously, and then just being out with the guys, that’s the fun part about this game is just playing the playing the game you love and doing the physical part of getting to the end zone hopefully and scoring bunch of touchdowns.”