Russell Wilson's Rocky Start and Steelers' 2024 Strategy

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00:00And it has been an injury-plagued beginning of career for Russell Wilson, to say the least.

00:09He missed some preseason time just an hour or so, we thought.

00:13All of a sudden, the injury report showed up earlier in the week, George, and Wilson

00:17was declared questionable for the game with a hamstring issue.

00:21You know, I don't know that Fields necessarily outplayed Wilson.

00:25Fields was like okay in the preseason also.

00:28Here's the flip side to this.

00:30First of all, I think Russell Wilson's finished.

00:32He looked finished for a while now, and I know Pittsburgh did this just to secure something.

00:38I think Pittsburgh is probably back in the draft trying for a quarterback after this

00:41year.

00:42But for me, I guess my concern is are they going to let Fields sort of do what he did

00:48in Chicago, which was at some point, if you remember, they didn't let him freelance for

00:53a while.

00:54They didn't want him.

00:55And then he talked about, hey, they're not letting me do what I came here to do.

00:58And then all of a sudden, he did.

00:59And he was great.

01:01But I don't know that that's ever going to be the Steelers' offense.

01:04I think, again, he's a good pivot for love if you have him and he's hurt or in a super

01:09flex league or a two-quarterback league, I would do that.

01:13But beyond that, that's as far as I would go with it.

01:17I think that's all fair.

01:19All fair here.

01:20I might have a little bit more love for Russell Wilson than you do.

01:23He was okay last year.

01:24He wasn't good, but he was okay.

01:27And he moves on here.

01:29Now, I fully believe Fields at this point.

01:32I think Pittsburgh should have anointed him to start.

01:33I think they should have built the offense around him.

01:35I think it's always the big problem.

01:37The offense is not built around Fields.

01:38It's built around Russell Wilson, what he can do.

01:41So it's just not fair to him.

01:43He needs to freelance.

01:44He needs to be moving around the park.

01:45He needs to rush the football.

01:46And you need to get your team aligned with that.

01:49Listen, Russell Wilson is not bringing you anywhere.

01:52At this point in his career, we know what Russell Wilson is, and it's not getting better.

01:56It's getting worse.

01:57There's not a lot of weapons here.

01:58It's George Pickens and prayers.

02:00There's a reason they want to Brandon Ayuk.

02:04We know that.

02:05The running game is okay.

02:06Maybe a tick better than okay, but it's far from anything special.

02:10I know Pat Frye, who signed the big contract, good for him.

02:13He's not special.

02:14So there's a lot of worry here.

02:17I wish they would have gone to Fields from day one.

02:20I did never like that Mike Tomlin anointed Russell Wilson to start.

02:24Why?

02:25This is not the Russell Wilson that won Super Bowls, and he didn't win them for you where

02:28you feel you owe it to him.

02:29All right.

02:30I might feel differently.

02:31If that was the case, he's first year with your team here.

02:34I said, the best thing I can say is I agree with you that another quarterback for next

02:39year's Pittsburgh Steelers is not currently on this roster.

02:43I don't think so, ma'am.

02:44I don't think so.

02:45They tried.

02:46Look, they tried.

02:47They drafted Kenny Pickett.

02:48He was in a poor quarterback class, but they drafted Kenny Pickett and yeah, it just doesn't

02:53seem to have worked for them, just basically with whoever they played a quarterback.

02:57It's hard replacing a Hall of Famer like Ben Roethlisberger.

03:00So in general, the way that the Steelers depth chart sort of lies here is Najee Harris is

03:07probably in line for the biggest workload of anyone, and maybe even Warren is playable

03:11this week, especially if Fields plays Friar Muth, Pickens, Roman Wilson.

03:15I'm a big Pickens fan.

03:17I think Pickens is good, but I just, I don't know.

03:22I would love to see Pittsburgh enter that game with Atlanta, George, and shock us.

03:29If it is Fields, and say, let's let Fields just run.

03:34Let's let him run around.

03:35Let's do something we've never done before.

03:38I don't know.

03:39It's just that they've never done it before.

03:41So I am probably out on a lot of Steelers going into game one.

03:45It's more of a wait and see.

03:46We'll get to Atlanta.

03:47It's going to be a little, I feel much different about Atlanta because I think you got to play

03:49a lot of these guys.

03:50But for Pittsburgh, I think this week is a watching week for me.

03:56You know, I think, I don't think, I mean, I'm in nine fantasy leagues.

04:00I don't think I have any Steeler.

04:03I think I stay away from this team.

04:04I want nothing to do with the quarterbacks, nothing to do with the running backs.

04:08It's not that Najee Harris or Warren are bad.

04:10I just think they're going to split the time there.

04:11You're not going to know who to start week in and week out.

04:14As you said, I love George Pickens.

04:16If you put Pickens with a normal team, with a good quarterback, we're talking about him

04:19being a wide receiver one, you know, or maybe a top-end wide receiver two at worst here.

04:25But he's not.

04:26He's with the Steelers.

04:27He doesn't have anybody.

04:28He's going to see nothing but cornerback ones, double coverage, bracket coverage, coverage

04:32being slanted towards him because every defensive coordinator is going to say, let's stop him.

04:36You stop him.

04:37We stop the passing game, and we'll get the run after that.

04:39All right?

04:40And Pat Freiberg is not a tight end one.

04:42All right?

04:43So this offense is a, I think you call it a work in progress, is being kind.

04:46All right?

04:47There's just not much here.

04:48Like I said, I'll say it again.

04:50There's a reason they wanted Brandon Iuke so much because they needed that kind of receiver.

04:54A second, number one receiver, yeah, that would transform this offense.

04:58But they didn't get him.

04:59Like I said, I think it's going to be a tough time for Steelers to win games.

05:02I mean, Benny White's going to be a lot of unders.

05:04It's the only way they win.

05:05If the game gets to over, they're not winning it.

05:07They're not winning 31-28 shootouts.

05:08They need to win 21-17, 20-0.

05:12That Demus has to play so well.

05:13So much pressure.

05:14Can't make any mistakes.

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