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Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff Writer
PITTSBURGH — Though coach Mike Tomlin continued to remain mum on the Steelers starting quarterback plan for Sunday night, wide receiver George Pickens seemingly confirmed Russell Wilson will make his first start of the season against the New York Jets.
“Yeah, [we’ve been] getting on the same page after practice, throwing more than usual because this is his first start,” Pickens said when asked if he’s been working with Wilson extra during practice this week.
But half an hour before Pickens’ interview, Tomlin declined to reveal anything about the plan when asked if he was ready to name a starter.
“I am, but I’m just going to keep that in house,” Tomlin said. “But I thought [Wilson] was sharp. I thought Justin was sharp as well. I thought we had a highly productive week from both guys and from the unit as a whole.”
Wilson, 35, practiced fully for the second week in a row after dealing with a lingering calf injury. Earlier in the week, teammates confirmed Wilson took first-team reps, and he also led off the quarterback rotation in individual drills. Justin Fields, who went 4-2 while Wilson was sidelined, was second in the quarterback rotation during drills.
“Justin has been really good, and we’ve been really good at times, but not to be confused with great,” Tomlin said earlier this week. “This is a competitive league. We’re trying to position ourselves to be that team and we got a player with talent who hadn’t had an opportunity to play, so we’re going to potentially explore those things sometimes it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with what Justin has done or has not done.”
While neither quarterback confirmed the plan for Sunday during their Thursday interviews, Wilson said he was “preparing to be ready to go,” while Fields said of his six starts that he didn’t play “good enough, if I’m being real with you.”
Fields’ coaches and teammates, though, praised the quarterback for his performance and said he was being too hard on himself.
“I think that he did the best he possibly can,” running back Najee Harris said. “I think he did a really good job, and he shouldn’t, well I know what he was trying to do, but just, me saying publicly that we’re all proud of him. Don’t be so hard on yourself. We got your back. I got your back.
“But I think that all 11 of us got to pitch in and be in there. We need both of [the quarterbacks] for sure.”