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Arthur Smith Says Steelers QB Russell Wilson Limited vs. Bills, Credits Resilience for Playing

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Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson before a preseason game against the Buffalo Bills on Aug. 17, 2024. -- Ed Thompson / Steelers Now

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson and the offense didn’t have an impressive outing in Saturday night’s 9-3 loss to the Buffalo Bills at Acrisure Stadium, but offensive coordinator Arthur Smith is not concerned about his starting QB or unit.



The first-team offense has scored zero points through two preseason games, but Smith noted that the preseason doesn’t matter in the standings. He also mentioned that when he was the Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator in 2019, they scored 43 points in Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns after a dreadful preseason.

“Preseason record doesn’t go on your permanent record,” Smith said. “It’s the old joke where Indy went 0-for every year, and they won 13 games almost automatically with Peyton (Manning).

“The longer you’ve been in this, I go back to my own experiences, in 2019 (in Tennessee), I didn’t think we were great in the preseason and come opening day we scored 40-something points (43) against the Browns. I’m not saying we’re going to do that in Atlanta (in Week 1), but we hope to. It’s just, you’ve got to have context.”

Smith gave Russell Wilson a lot of credit for wanting to be out there for a preseason game. He thought he displayed a lot of character.

“He wanted to play … he hasn’t gotten a lot of reps,” Smith said. “I don’t care how many years you’ve been in this thing, whether you’re in a new system, a new city, whatever it is, the great ones want to get out there and sharpened up to play. There’s things schematically you don’t want to put him in a hard way,” Smith said. “There’s risk in everything when you step out there. So I think that limited him a little bit. I give him credit for being out there.”

Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson during a preseason game against the Buffalo Bills on Aug. 17, 2024. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now

Wilson was out for the first two weeks of training camp due to a calf injury that he sustained during the team’s conditioning test on July 24. Smith said he didn’t call the same plays for Wilson as he did for Justin Fields against Buffalo.

“Internally, we limited him in some of the schemes we were trying to do, it didn’t go clearly the way that we wanted it to, so there were some things that I didn’t call for him that I did call for Justin,” Smith said.

Smith said he doesn’t have the ‘burden’ of naming the starting QB for the regular season. He said he’ll give his opinion and collaborate with Omar Khan and Art Rooney II. But it’s ultimately Mike Tomlin’s call. 

Tomlin thought it was hard to get a good evaluation on Wilson against the Bills due to the lack of rhythm on offense.

“Again, it’s somewhat of an incomplete study because you just don’t get a chance to see him operate, or us operate, or us establish rhythm and personality when you’re not winning possession downs,” Tomlin said. “And we weren’t, the first three or so series of the game it was three-and-out, and you’re not going to get an opportunity to establish rhythm or play the way that you would like as an individual or a collective.”

Like Smith, Wilson is not sweating the slow start on offense.

“If our practices weren’t as good as they have been, you would be a little be a more heightened and concerned,” Wilson said. “We go against a great defense every day. Obviously, we played the Bills on Thursday (in a joint practice), did a good job against them the other day. They played well tonight, made some plays and everything else. But I think the sense of urgency is always high. If we had scored three, four touchdowns the sense of urgency still should be high.

“I think that’s where you can’t be tricked and fooled on a moment. You have to understand it’s a long process. It’s a process you got to enjoy. It’s going to be hard. To win, it’s ugly sometimes. It’s tough, it’s challenging. It’s worth it though, and we’re going to do the work.”

Alan Saunders contributed reporting from Pittsburgh.

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