There is going to be a little extra juice for the Pittsburgh Steelers' preseason Week 2 game on Saturday night, as it will be the game debut of 2024 free-agent acquisition and quarterback, Russell Wilson.
Of course, Wilson was unable to take part in the last exhibition game due to his calf injury, which led to Justin Fields taking the first-team reps in what was a disappointing showing overall for the Steelers' offense.
Wilson, who remains in the pole position and will start, will be facing the Buffalo Bills' first-team defense when he takes the field, which will be a good test in what could be his final game reps before the start of the season.
With Wilson's Steelers debut rapidly approaching, here's a look at five things the Steelers will want to see from him on Saturday night.
What Russell Wilson needs to show Steelers
A healthy calf
Coming off a calf injury suffered during a conditioning test the day he reported to camp, Wilson's first order of business is showing he's fully healthy. We want to see him move well in and out of the pocket, and ultimately, escape this game without re-injuring himself.
Clean operation
Justin Fields and the Steelers' first-team offense had a sloppy showing in preseason Week 1, which was highlighted by a pair of bad center-quarterback exchanges that caused two fumbles, both of which were recovered.
The center involved in those exchanges, Nate Herbig, may not play due to injury, so Wilson could be working with rookie Zach Frazier. Whoever he works with, clean snaps are a must after what we saw last week.
Adding to the snaps, we also want to see Wilson show command of the offense and make the right calls at the line of scrimmage when necessary. Avoiding delay of games and turnovers are obviously important, also.
Chemistry with the pass-catchers
While Wilson has done a lot more work in practice in recent weeks after slowly working his way back from the calf injury, he hasn't had a ton of work with his pass-catchers in camp, and certainly not to the level Fields has.
We're going to be keeping a close eye on how he does with the players who figure to be his top targets, like George Pickens, Van Jefferson, Calvin Austin and Pat Freiermuth. Ideally, he shows trust in his guys and doesn't have any communication issues with them.
At least one touchdown drive
Tomlin said he first-team offense could get as many as four series, although he also stated how much the unit sees the field could be determined by how things go.
That said, the Steelers are hoping to see at least one touchdown drive from Wilson and Co., which would be one more than the first-team offense mustered up in preseason Week 1.
And, depending on how many drives the first-team offense gets, a few would be ideal.
Leave no doubt
To leave no doubt about his standing as the starting quarterback, Wilson has to at least have an equal showing to what Fields did last week. But, ideally, Wilson outperforms him entirely, and it won't take a lot to do that.
Regardless, it's going to take a monumental collapse on Wilson's part to lose his pole position. Tomlin has said publicly this is still a competition between the two quarterbacks, but the plan all along has been to roll with Wilson to start the season and go from there, barring a meltdown of epic proportions.
