Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday that quarterback Russell Wilson's calf tightness, which kept him from playing in the team's regular season opener last Sunday in Atlanta, is feeling better.
But Tomlin said the Steelers will proceed for now as if backup Justin Fields will start on Sunday in Denver when the team travels there in Week 2 to face the Broncos.
"He feels better today than he did over the weekend," Tomlin said of Wilson. "What that means, I don't know as we sit here today. I know that we're going to take the same approach that we take with a lot of people in terms of injury. We'll first start with his participation and his level of participation, his quality of participation. Over the course of the week, we'll be analyzing whether he's capable of protecting himself, whether he's capable of being productive.
"When we get to those points, that's when we'll ponder his inclusion or not, and when that happens, we'll probably be a component of that equation. But as I sit here today, we're preparing as if Justin is going to be our quarterback. I think that's the appropriate way to do it. Speculation is a waste of time. Russell's hurt. He's not available to us."
Wilson missed two weeks of practice time at the start of training camp after suffering a calf strain during the team's conditioning test at Saint Vincent College. The 35-year-old returned to play in the team's second preseason game and was named the starting quarterback to open the season. But he reported some tightness in the calf last Thursday and the team decided to go with Fields as the starter in an 18-10 victory over the Falcons with Wilson serving as the emergency quarterback.
Fields completed 17 of his 23 passes for 156 yards and rushed 14 times for another 57 yards against Atlanta, leading the Steelers to scores on six of 10 possessions. But the Steelers also failed to score a touchdown in the game, though they held the ball for more than 35 minutes.
"I thought he settled in as the game went on," Tomlin said of Fields. "I thought he had clear eyes in weighty moments. I thought he was a good communicator in some of those moments where we had some discussions. We had a big third down play late in the game, third-and-(five), we had a timeout. We came to the sideline. We talked about leaving the ball in his hands. We bounced around some suggestions. He was a major component of that discussion.
"We went out. We left the ball in his hands. We had a designed quarterback run. He moved the chains in those circumstances."
The Steelers acquired both Wilson and Fields in the offseason as part of a complete makeover of their quarterback room.
If Wilson is unable to play Sunday, it will mean he will miss out on an opportunity to play against the team that released him in the offseason after two seasons. Denver acquired Wilson after the 2021 season via a trade with Seattle.
But Wilson's skillset didn't mesh with the style of play Denver head coach Sean Payton, hired prior to the 2023 season, wanted to employ, leading to his release and signing by the Steelers.
Fields, meanwhile, was acquired via a trade of late-round draft picks with the Chicago Bears in the days after the Steelers signed Wilson, giving the Steelers two quarterbacks with plenty of starting experience.
Tomlin said Wilson is not scheduled to practice on Wednesday, but could return on Thursday. If that happens, he might be available to play on Sunday.
"We've got a battery of movement scheduled for him tomorrow, and then as is our usual practice, we'll meet with doctors after tomorrow's practice, and we'll probably have some more clarity then about what the rest of the week looks like," Tomlin said.
Beyond that, the team will proceed as if Wilson won't be available.
"I'm not into the hypotheticals," Tomlin said. "Right now he's not healthy, so my time and attention is focusing on the readiness of Justin."
Additional injuries: The Steelers placed punter Cameron Johnston on injured reserve Tuesday after he suffered a serious knee injury late in the victory over the Falcons.
Johnston was acquired as a free agent in the offseason after spending the 2023 season with the Texans.
"I would imagine he has a surgery scheduled here in the upcoming days, so he's lost for the year," Tomlin said of Johnston. "I'm really disappointed for him. This guy's been spectacular for us. He's punted the ball extremely well in the short time he's been here. But as impressive as his punting is his professionalism and approach to business. He's an awesome teammate. He's a hard worker. He quickly earned the respect of the guys because of that."
With Johnston out, the Steelers re-signed Corliss Waitman, who has spent time with the team in the past, both on the practice squad and active roster.
"We're familiar with Corliss, excited about him," Tomlin said. "He was on our expanded practice squad, I think, in '21 during those COVID years and really had an opportunity to develop while here. He developed his holding while here.
"He didn't have a lot of holding experience in college, so (placekicker Chris Boswell) and company were a component of his development in that area."
Waitman punted for Denver last season, leading the NFL with 96 punts on which he averaged 46.6 yards per kick.
Tomlin also said second-year cornerback Darius Rush is in concussion protocol, while left tackle Dan Moore reported some swelling in his ankle on Tuesday.
"We'll see where that leads us," Tomlin said of Moore, who could be limited in practice early in the week.
Rookie wide receiver Roman Wilson is expected to see an increase in practice time as he works to return from an ankle injury that cost him the entire preseason, while guard Isaac Seumalo, who missed the game against the Falcons with a pectoral muscle injury, could return to practice this week.
"We'll see where Isaac is tomorrow as we go through the week and measure his participation, if any, and let that be our guide in terms of his inclusion," Tomlin said.
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Knocking off the rust: The Steelers were penalized nine times for 60 yards against the Falcons, and that's one thing Tomlin said he definitely wants to clean up this week.
"I thought penalties were catastrophic to our efforts," Tomlin said. "We had some big plays and field-flipping scenarios negated by penalty, so we've got to grow there, and we'll put our focus appropriately there and improving in those areas."
Some of those came in the kicking game, as Tomlin acknowledged, and need to be cleaned up. But particularly troubling were the pre-snap penalties the team had both offensively and defensively.
"Those procedural things, it's kind of reflective at times of September ball, but at the same time, you acknowledge that it's JV," Tomlin said. "If we're going to be the type of team we need to be, we can't lose downs pre-snap on either side of the ball. So there was some of that in play, and it needs to be addressed."
