Steelers QB Russell Wilson on his role for Week 6: ‘That’s a good question’

PITTSBURGH — Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson has dressed for 190 NFL games and has started 188 of them.

On Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, Wilson could be dressing for just the third time in his career as a backup.

Wilson was selected in the third round of the 2012 draft by Seattle and started every game as a rookie. He proceeded to start 165 consecutive games for the Seahawks until a broken finger in the middle of the 2021 season ended the sixth-longest streak of starts in NFL history.

Wilson signed with Denver before the 2022 season and started 30 games for the Broncos until he was benched for Jarrett Stidham for the final two games of last season, although that was for contractual reasons rather than performance.

After being inactive for the first five games this season due to a calf injury, Wilson has been medically cleared and was a full participant in practice for a second consecutive day on Thursday. Like the rest of us, he is waiting to find out what his role will be on Sunday.

“That’s a good question,” Wilson said. “I think for me, I’m preparing in my mind to be ready to go. That’s kind of my mentality, to help us win, whatever that is.”

It’s been a difficult couple of months for Wilson. He was signed in March to be the starter and only lost his job to Justin Fields because of his calf injury.

Wilson said he’s ready to play, but it appears he will have to wait his turn behind Fields for the time being.

“We all want to play,” Wilson said. “We all want to be out there. I’ve never been in this place that I’m in, and it’s tough. But at the same time, you know there are better days ahead. There are challenges along the way.”

Wilson missed the first few weeks of training camp after he injured his calf during the team’s conditioning test on July 24. He returned to practice in mid-August and was named the starter after the final preseason game.

However, Wilson aggravated his calf in practice a few days before the season opener and was only a limited practice participant until Wednesday. Wilson said he just started to run about two weeks ago, but he said he won’t have any limitations if he’s called upon on Sunday.

“I feel confident I’ll be ready to play and play at a high level,” he said. “I think we’re being really smart. This is my first week of really being back out there with the guys and playing, so I feel really confident about that. The ball is spinning. That’s a good thing. I have no doubt in my mind once I step in between the white lines that I’ll be ready to go.

“The biggest thing is being able to run and move around well. I’ve started to run the past couple of weeks, a little bit by little bit every day and be smart about it. I was able to move around today. It’s a process. It’s a process that I don’t love, but also, at the same time, you get to figure out your mental fortitude. You can always lead in different ways. That’s important. This is a big game for us. We’re 3-2, and we have to focus on playing a really talented Raiders team.”

The Steelers, for now at least, don’t appear to be in a hurry to reinstate Wilson as their starter. Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith likened Wilson’s situation to that of rookie receiver Roman Wilson, who also missed most of the camp practices due to a high ankle sprain and is waiting to play in his first NFL game.

“Like Roman, [he] had to do a lot of practice reps. [It’s] those guys’ turn to get back into game shape,” Smith said. “[He] took some of the reps that Kyle Allen has been taking, just kind of see where it goes from there.

“It’s not like a guy that played a full game or played the first part of the season and then missed a week and has something lingering coming from Sunday. It’s different. They’re all different, what you’re managing. So just kind of have to take it day by day.”

Wilson has served as the emergency quarterback in the first five games of the season, meaning he could only play if Fields and Allen were injured and could not return to the game. If he’s the backup against the Raiders, he’ll be one snap away from playing in a game for the first time since last December.

Wilson had to warm up on the sidelines last week when Fields was taken out of the game by the NFL spotters so he could be evaluated for a head injury.

“The biggest thing is being ready, having your helmet ready,” Wilson said. “When Justin got hit in the last game, Kyle immediately zipped up his helmet, and I had to go run and get mine and get my shoulder loose. I wasn’t expecting that. That was a quick process.

“It was good that Justin was able to get back in there. It was also cool to see Kyle hit a big throw for us. That kind of gave us the momentum when Kyle hit that throw. We had been struggling, and Kyle hit that big throw. Then Justin comes back in, and he did well the rest of the way. That was a good moment for us in the QB room. We’re always prepared. That has to be the mentality.”