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Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff Writer
PITTSBURGH — Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson expects to play Saturday against the Detroit Lions in the preseason finale, he said Wednesday.
“We’re playing,” he said. “Yeah, we’re all playing. I’m excited to get back on the field. Last week was great to be out there for the first time, putting more pads on and everything else. And obviously we didn’t get the win and everything else, but I think the big thing for us is just executing and us making our plays and doing our thing.”
Wilson, 35, played five series against the Buffalo Bills in the team’s second preseason game, but the Steelers failed to put any points on the board and frequently got behind the chains.
Because of that and his abbreviated training camp due to a calf injury, Wilson wants another opportunity to get in game action and work on staying on schedule in the offense before the Steelers’ Week 1 opener in Atlanta.
“I think the most important thing for us to accomplish is to play efficient football, move the ball and down the field,” Wilson said. “Obviously we want to celebrate in the end zone. That would be fun. We need to make sure that happens, and that’s the standard of football we want to be able to play in.”
Coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday that he’ll detail the division of labor for the third preseason game in his Thursday pregame news conference.
Wilson was only supposed to play “two or three” series against the Bills, he said Wednesday, but he pushed offensive coordinator Arthur Smith to let him go back out on the field after the Steelers went three-and-out on their first two drives. Wilson’s unit picked up its first first down on the third series, but overall, the first-team offense went 1-for-6 on third-down conversions.
“The first series went a little quick, so we wanted to say, ‘Hey, let’s get some more plays in,'” Wilson said. “And we knew we weren’t going to win the game in the first quarter or anything like that, but it was just, ‘Hey, let’s see if we can get some more plays in.’ And obviously I’d been out because of my calf injury and everything else, unfortunately, so it was the first time that I got to put the shoulder pads on and go out there and go out in the field. And so wanted to be out there as much as I could with our guys and just compete at the highest level.”
Smith, though, was intentional with Wilson on the field, not implementing playcalls that would put Wilson at risk of aggravating his calf injury.
“He wanted to play,” Smith said. “I would never put somebody out there that wasn’t medically clear, but he hasn’t gotten a lot of reps — and I don’t care how many years you’ve been in this thing, whether you’re a new system, new city, whatever it is, the great ones want to get out there and get sharpened up to play. He’s missed a lot of camp.
“Then [you’ve got to] protect him from himself. There’s things schematically, you don’t want to put him a hard way. There’s risk in everything when you step out there. And so, I think that limited him a little bit, but I’ll give him credit for being out there, and that’s the name of this game.”
Though the calf injury limited him through training camp, Wilson said postgame Saturday that the calf didn’t bother him during the game.
“I felt great out there,” Wilson said. “Honestly, I felt strong. I wasn’t thinking about it. Anytime you have an injury, sometimes if you’re worried about it, you’re in the back of your mind. You’re thinking about it. Didn’t feel that at all really the past week or so.”
While Wilson does expect to play Saturday, two key offensive players in rookie offensive tackle Troy Fautanu (knee sprain) and rookie receiver Roman Wilson (ankle sprain) will not participate.
“It does suck not being able to play in preseason,” said Roman Wilson, who sprained his ankle nearly three weeks ago. “That was something I was looking forward to, but being able to play as soon as I can, that’s a blessing for me. It could have been worse. I could be sitting out for a longer time.”
Fautanu suffered his injury in the first preseason game but said Tuesday he anticipates being physically ready to go for the season opener, where he’s likely to be slotted in at right tackle.
“There’s nothing else I can do but approach the challenge and keep my head up,” Fautanu said. “I can’t hope and wish my life away that I had more time in the preseason. Just making sure that I’m preparing myself mentally more than anything.”