There is no doubt that arguably the most interesting quarterback battle in the NFL right now is on the Pittsburgh Steelers where it is between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, both whom were starters elsewhere, looking for a fresh start with the team. With those two big names comes more media attention which Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin talked about when he made an appearance on “The Pivot Podcast.”
Former NFL player and host of the show in Fred Taylor would ask about the amplified media attention by bringing in both Wilson and Fields to compete. However, Tomlin does not care about the media aspect of acquiring the two signal-callers as he is more worried about being “World Champs.”
“No question, opportunity to acquire the talent but man this is professional football and we’re trying to be World Champs,” Tomlin said. “And based on my experience, I know whether you want media attention or not if you going down that road and going down that road the way you want to, media attention is going to come with it you know what I mean.”
“But the media storm,” Tomlin continued. “Nah, I’m going to run from it man, we got to push through it, that better not be like our biggest problems. We got to beat people. So I’m not going to allow that to be a distraction.”
There would be people who would question the validity of the competition since it's fair to automatically assume that Wilson has the advantage due to his bevy of experience in the league, especially playing under the brightest lights. However, Fields has impressed, especially when he briefly took first team reps when Wilson was dealing with a calf injury.
Russell Wilson has “pole position” in Steelers QB battle
While Russell has the “pole position,” which is a term used by Tomlin, the official decision will come into fruition as the preseason plays out with both quarterbacks according to Brooke Pryor.
“Very much is a competition,” Tomlin said. “What happens in stadium is weighted heavier than what happens on the practice setting because it's more game-like.”
He would echo the same sentiments to Kay Adams on her show earlier this month saying that Wilson does have that pole position as he wants to “pay respect to the totality of his resume and his experience.”
“And I think I've been pretty consistent in my position there,” Tomlin said. “I've characterized it as pole position for Russell. And the reason I have is certainly they are competing, but I don't overly concern ourselves with being fair. There's no such thing as 50/50. And so we just pay respect to the totality of his resume and his experience.”
At any rate, the Steelers first preseason game is Friday night against the Houston Texans while their first regular season contest will be on Sunday, Sept. 8 against the Atlanta Falcons.
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