“I got comfortable with his ability to display his health [last week],” Tomlin said of Wilson. “… Now it’s about knocking the rust off. He is in consideration this week. We’ll see where that leads us, man. Both guys at the quarterback position are scheduled to work [Wednesday], and we’ll just walk it day by day. All geared toward putting ourselves in the best position to win the football game.”
Tomlin didn’t rule out the possibility of using both quarterbacks in Sunday night’s game.
“Certainly, there’s a scenario,” Tomlin said. “There could have been a scenario where that could have occurred last week.”
Wilson, 35, completed a week of practice for the first time since aggravating his training camp injury in September. He was active in the win against the Las Vegas Raiders while Fields recorded his sixth season start.
What will the Steelers do at quarterback?
Pittsburgh removing Fields and starting Wilson might seem like an overreaction – especially at this point in the season. Fields has executed their game plans, avoided turnovers, and won games. However, Fields has also been lackluster in throwing the football, leaving the Steelers one-dimensional on offense. So, although Wilson hasn’t played in quite a while, Tomlin might be leaving the door open for Wilson to take over on offense.
But adding in Wilson’s throwing acumen forces the Steelers to make a different sacrifice on offense. It comes at the cost of Fields’ legs, a weapon for the Steelers in the run game. Simply put, Wilson can’t run like Fields, which might not make the change at quarterback worthwhile. Sure, Fields has shortcomings in passing an attack. But with how things have been running in Pittsburgh, the Steelers might not want to rock the boat.
Wilson has also barely practiced, so he might not yet be in game shape. This all could be an elaborate smokescreen to keep opposing teams guessing who Pittsburgh plays at quarterback. Tomlin won’t make the official call until before kickoff against the Jets. So, until then, no one will know if there’s any fire behind the smoke.
