Quarterback Russell Wilson made his preseason debut with the Steelers on Saturday night.
He split the game with Justin Fields; both players got four drives. Fields led to Pittsburgh’s only points of the night, on a field goal.
Wilson completed eight of 10 passes for 47 yards. He was sacked three times. His best throw was caught along the deep left sideline by receiver George Pickens. The ruling of incomplete was upheld after a Pittsburgh challenge. (It sort of looked like a catch.)
Fields entered for the final drive of the first half. He completed 11 of 17 passes for 92 yards. He was sacked once. He also ran for 42 yards on eight attempts, with a long of 20.
After the game, coach Mike Tomlin bemoaned the blocking for both quarterbacks, and he repeatedly mentioned the failure of the offense to win “possession downs” in order to extend drives and turn them into points.
“We’ve got to do a better job in pass protection than we did, not only in possession downs but just in general,” Tomlin said. “And I was really up front with the group about it in that regard. That can’t be a problem for us. We’ve got to be better than we were tonight in that area.”
Tomlin wasn’t asked about the performance of Wilson, which was largely unspectacular. As to Fields, Tomlin said this: “I thought he got better in some areas. I thought he did a nice job utilizing his legs, whether it was impromptu or otherwise to keep some situations alive. But again, you know, I just thought performance was stymied by a lack of protection and a lack of execution on possession down play.”
Fields brought an element of excitement to the offense that it hasn’t had in a long time. His mobility and escapability provides an edge-of-the-seat quality whenever Fields plays. But he badly missed on what would have been a wide-open touchdown pass. Then, he spun out of pressure to make a nice sideline throw with a ball that went right over the fingertips of a Buffalo defender.
All things considered, Fields showed more potential to energize the offense than Wilson, who didn’t do much to set the clock back to his pre-Denver days on Saturday night.
The Steelers finish the preseason on Saturday at Detroit, before opening the season 15 days later at Atlanta.