Russell Wilson makes his Steelers preseason debut, and the offense goes nowhere with him

If there really is a quarterback competition for the Pittsburgh Steelers, it should still be wide open after Saturday night.

Russell Wilson got his first preseason action with the Steelers after he was held out last week. The offense struggled with Wilson in the game.

The Steelers had four punts and a missed field goal on Wilson’s five drives on Saturday against the Buffalo Bills. Justin Fields took over right before the two-minute warning of the first half. Wilson finished 8-of-10 for 47 yards, and a lot of those yards came on three third-down passes that were well short of first downs. It wasn’t a pretty outing.

Wilson took a couple of third-down sacks. One issue Wilson had with the Broncos was holding the ball too long and taking too many sacks. That will frustrate the Steelers staff if it continues there. Both sacks ruined drives and led to punts. Through the Steelers’ first four drives they had 12 net yards, one first down, four punts and didn’t get past their own 34-yard line.

Fields takes too many sacks as well, but he can at least make up for it by scrambling for big gains. That used to be a big part of Wilson’s game, but it has diminished with age.

Fields immediately showed off his rushing ability to get the Steelers their first points. In the final minute of the half he scrambled for 20 yards. After a 5-yard completion, Chris Boswell hit a 43-yard field goal. That ended up being Pittsburgh’s only score in a 9-3 loss.

Fields had seven straight completions and the offense seemed to have a better tempo with him in the game. It wasn’t perfect, but it looked better than when Wilson was in the game. We’ll see if that matters at all to the Steelers’ coaching staff with just one preseason game to go. Fields was 11 of 17 for 92 yards and also had 42 yards rushing. Both he and Wilson got five drives.

One play got the Steelers crowd going. Fields was wrapped up for a sack, somehow got out, adjusted his helmet as he rolled left and hit Dez Fitzpatrick for 19 yards on the sideline. That was the Steelers’ most exciting offensive play of the night.

In the preseason opener, Wilson sat out due to a calf injury suffered early in training camp. Fields played fairly well but a couple of fumbled snaps overshadowed his positive plays. The offense at least moved a bit in that game.

The Steelers did very little against the Bills’ defense with Wilson in the game. Wilson was content to check it down too often, or he took sacks. Three times on third-and-long he hit a short pass that ended up short of the first-down marker.

After an interception by Steelers safety Miles Killebrew, the offense showed a little life, but not enough. Wilson hit Van Jefferson for an 11-yard gain on third-and-2. A deep pass down the sideline to George Pickens was almost hauled in but he was just out of bounds. On third down, it was another pass short of the sticks, but that one got Boswell in better position for a field goal. Boswell missed it though, hitting it off the upright.

Wilson has been the favorite to start since he signed with the Steelers. Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin has called it a competition but all signs have pointed to Wilson being the Week 1 starter. That’s not an exciting proposition after what we saw in Wilson’s first preseason snaps for the Steelers.