Steelers QB Russell Wilson Reveals Offensive Plan Against Lions
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson confirmed on Wednesday that the starting offense will play in the final preseason game against the Detroit Lions on Saturday. Due to the inefficiencies on offense, Mike Tomlin said he got an incomplete study on Wilson in Saturday’s 9-3 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
“Yeah, we’re playing,” Wilson said. “We’re all playing. I’m excited to get back on the field. … I think the big thing for us is just executing, us making our plays and doing our thing.”
The first-team offense has scored zero points in the first two preseason games. Russell Wilson is looking for more rhythm and consistency from the offense.
“I think the most important thing for us to accomplish is to just to play efficient football,” Wilson said. “Move the ball up and down the field. Obviously, we want to celebrate in the end zone. That would be fun. We need to make sure that happens. That’s the standard of football we want to be able to play.”
Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said on Tuesday 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.”
Wilson is also not worried about the struggles during the preseason.
“First of all, it’s the preseason,” Wilson said. “I think there are always highs, there’s some things that we’ve done really well. There’s some things we need to be better at. That’s a part of the preseason. You learn things and you translate that to the practice field, as well.
“Somebody asked me if we were concerned right now. Absolutely not. The reason being because the level practices we’ve had against one of the best defenses every day. How we’ve shown up there. The best thing we can do is just slow our minds down and play really clean football, and just enjoy the process. There is going to be a time during the season where it is going to be the first quarter and we didn’t score. Are we going to panic and worry? Absolutely not. We are going to win the game in the fourth quarter and that’s the way it’s going to be.”
Alan Saunders contributed reporting from Pittsburgh.
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