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Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff Writer
DETROIT — Coach Mike Tomlin needed to see just five snaps from Russell Wilson and the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ first team offense in the preseason finale Saturday.
Though the Steelers dropped the game, 24-17, to the Detroit Lions, Wilson’s unit scored its first touchdown of the preseason in the quarterback’s lone series. After that, Tomlin pulled Wilson in favor of Justin Fields, who played three series and led a scoring drive of his own behind the first-team offensive line.
“We just needed results that are indicative of how we’ve worked,” Tomlin said of his decision to remove Wilson after one series. “And so they were able to put together a score and drive and really just provided an opportunity to get Justin in there sooner, and so that’s why we did it.”
After Fields exited, backups Kyle Allen and John Rhys Plumlee finished the game, playing more than two-and-a-half quarters. Though the preseason game action is complete, Tomlin said he’s going to wait to officially name a starting quarterback, though Wilson’s limited action Saturday and “pole position” to start the preseason suggests he’s the heavy favorite. The Steelers are one of two teams, along with the New England Patriots, that have yet to name a Week 1 starter.
“We’ll make a decision at the end of our work week,” Tomlin said. “This upcoming week we have three days of Steelers vs. Steelers work and why not do it then?
“It minimizes the Steelers versus Steelers work when we started making decisions prior to the completion of that. We’ve got ample time to prepare for Atlanta and make whatever decisions or announcements regarding divisional labor or pecking orders and so forth and so we’ll do it at the end of the work week.”
In his final preseason outing, Wilson needed just five plays to guide the offense to the end zone. The quarterback completed both pass attempts for 26 yards, including a 32-yard completion to George Pickens on third-and-11 after the previous pass to the wide receiver resulted in a loss of six yards. Two plays after that, running back/wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson found the end zone as he barreled up the middle for a 31-yard touchdown, his lanes opening up thanks to timely blocks by rookie center Zach Frazier and left guard Isaac Seumalo.
“Last week we just didn’t stay on schedule, and this time we did,” Wilson said. “I think another part of it, too, was I told you guys earlier in the week, the best part is to be able to celebrate the end zone with your teammates. I mean that’s what this game’s all about, man, just to be able to get in there and do that. So we got a lot more work to do and we got to keep our heads down and keep going.”
A week earlier, Wilson played five series, but the team failed to put any points on the board, and Wilson’s group converted just one third down. Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith also said afterward he was deliberate in the play calls for Wilson, specifically limiting the amount of running to protect the quarterback’s calf injury. This time, though, Wilson said he had fewer restrictions.
“I think that we were trying to be strategic last week,” he said. “It was kind of like, okay, the doctors let me play last week and I wanted to play in front of our fans, put the black jersey on and just be out there and be out there with my teammates. And so I think this week obviously to be able to come on the road, our first two games are on the road to be able to do the silent count cadence and do all the things that we need to do to get to the end zone.”
While Fields came in for Wilson after the opening drive, the first-team offensive line remained in the game for one series.
“Because I just wanted to put some people around him that could protect him,” Tomlin said, explaining the decision to keep his offensive line starters in the game.
“That’s appropriate. You can see I got nervous when we moved on from some of those groups, and I got him out of there.”
Working behind the starters, Fields and the offense, largely made up of second-team skill players like Scotty Miller and La’Michal Perine, put together a six-play, three-minute scoring drive capped by a Perine touchdown. Fields connected with Van Jefferson for a five-yard gain on the first play of the drive, and two plays later, he hit tight end MyCole Pruitt for a 22-yard play-action pass over the middle to set the unit up at the 2-yard line.
It wasn’t all pretty for Fields, though. He had another fumbled exchange with the center, this time with Zach Frazier on third down in his second series. And he finished the third series by taking another sack.
“They did all right, but there’s also room to grow,” Fields said of the offensive line. “So just going to look at the mistakes that we had and what plays we could have done better on and get better.”
Still, Tomlin was pleased with his quarterbacks’ overall body of work in their final opportunity to state their case for the starting job.
“They both moved the ball,” Tomlin said of his quarterbacks. “They won possession downs. They were able to put the ball in the end zone. Things that we hadn’t done to this point sufficiently enough in the preseason.”