The one developing Pittsburgh Steelers storyline that will continue to change until Week 1 of the regular season will be the question of who is going to be the starting quarterback between Justin Fields and Russell Wilson. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin spoke to Kay Adams Saturday about the quarterback competition, specfically about Fields and how he doesn't want to “squash his natural instincts.”
“I guess the big thing, the message that informally, formally, whatever you want to call it that I want to continue to relay to him is I don't want to squash his natural instincts,” Tomlin said on the “Up & Adams” show. “You know, his mobility and escape ability is a weapon. And we don't want to minimize that. We don't want him overthinking, we want him to play fast and fluid. And so if anything from a messaging standpoint, I've probably mentioned that to him a few times, he's new to the environment. I don't want him to you know, overanalyze what we might be thinking. I want him to do what comes natural as it pertains to his game.”
Wilson has “pole position” for Steelers starting job, Fields could learn
Both quarterbacks are looking for fresh starts from their previous stints like with Fields moving on from the Chicago Bears where he was a first-round pick and Wilson with his disappointing stint on the Denver Broncos. However, Tomlin would not hold back in saying that Wilson has the “pole position” because of his winning experience which is something he mentioned Fields can learn from.
“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.”
“We lean on it, we'll allow him to lead the group and formally in terms of some of the things that he's done to produce the type of career he has,” Tomlin continued. “There's growth of opportunity for Justin in that Justin has absorbed a lot of responsibility since coming into the league. It's probably a great opportunity for him to work alongside day to day somebody in his position that's done it longer and done it at a high level, but rest assured, both guys will be given an opportunity to show their skills over the course of the next month and I'm excited about watching them sort themselves out.”
At any rate, the Steelers are looking to improve after a 10-7 record which put them third in the NFC North as they open the upcoming season on the road against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, Sept. 8.
Follow Us
Subscribe