If you raised eyebrows while reading the paragraph above, that’s completely normal. No, a quarterback who displays such a level of play on the field while his team ends up with an enviable record like this should not be nailed to the sidelines.
However, this is not the opinion of head coach Mike Tomlin, who is far from being the latest addition to football. Whoever is in charge of the Pittsburgh representatives made the decision to put veteran Russell Wilson as a starter to guide his attack from this Sunday evening duel against the New York Jets.
Pressed by the media to explain his decision, Tomlin, who has never had a losing season at the helm of the Steelers since he took office in 2007, offered a rather evasive justification.
“Justin has been really good at times and so have we as a team, but that shouldn’t be confused with excellence. The NFL is a competitive league and we are trying to position ourselves to be that team. We have a player with talent [Wilson] and we’re going to explore that. It doesn’t necessarily have to do with what Justin did or didn’t do. He was an asset for us. His ability to use his legs was an important part of our game. We liked that and the way he protected the ball. On the other hand, we look at all the players at our disposal in the same way,” expressed Tomlin.
Do you understand the reasoning behind this? Even reading between the lines, it’s difficult to explain Tomlin’s logic. Fields was really good for the Steelers, he took care of the ball and, most importantly, led the team to wins. Ironically, it wasn’t enough.
Hard to believe Wilson will do better
This past offseason, the Steelers added Fields and Wilson. Fields had been jettisoned by the Chicago Bears and Russell Wilson was no longer a fit for the Denver Broncos, with both organizations preferring to use their first pick to draft a young quarterback.
Only 25 years old, Fields is only in his fourth NFL campaign, but this is the first time he has found himself on a functioning team with the Steelers. The talent and athleticism have always been undeniable in his case.
As for Wilson, he was once a member of the NFL’s elite, a finely tuned version of what Fields could be at his peak. However, at age 35, Wilson has shown clear signs of slowing down. His decline began with the Seattle Seahawks and his time with the Broncos proved to be a fiasco.
It is therefore difficult to believe that with Pittsburgh, which does not necessarily have the best tools to excel in possession of the ball, he will regain his splendor and do better than what Fields offered in the first six weeks.
Tomlin, however, never hid that his man was Wilson. The injury suffered by the former Seahawks star in camp had forced Tomlin to throw Fields into the fray. The team then started winning (three consecutive victories to start the year) and that put the coach in a strange position.
So, at the slightest sign of weakness, Tomlin did not hesitate to take out the hook and pin Fields to the bench. If everything had gone according to plan, the Steelers instructor might have already come to the conclusion that Wilson no longer had what it took. However, he needs to see it for himself.
It’s just a shame that Fields is paying the price, because he hasn’t done anything to warrant this treatment.
AARON RODGERS, QUARTERBACK…AND GENERAL MANAGER
A second week in a row with a column on the New York Jets would probably have been a bit exaggerated, but it’s impossible to keep silent about what happened in the kingdom of Aaron Rodgers this week.
Just a few days after the thunderclap linked to the dismissal of head coach Robert Saleh, a new one was heard and it is star receiver Davante Adams who arrives with the Jets.
A very close friend of Rodgers, Adams played rain and shine with the Green Bay Packers when he caught passes from the future Hall of Famer. Three years after being separated, the pair will attempt to recreate the magic that united them at Lambeau Field.
Is this the cure to the setbacks of the Jets who want to save their season? Hard to say, but it’s clear that having Adams, Garrett Wilson and Adam Lazard to catch balls from Rodgers can’t be bad.
The fact remains that this acquisition once again demonstrates that the real boss of football operations at the Jets is Rodgers.
This is perhaps not the idea of the century, that one…
