Mike Tomlin not only has to select his starting quarterback, he also has to convince his team that it was the right choice. That was the analysis of former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, in which he clarified the differing views within the Pittsburgh Steelers team.
“There’s probably a group of people that think Russell (Wilson) should start,” Lombardi told the show. “There’s probably a group that thinks (Justin) Fields should start. There’s probably a group that’s wondering, ‘Why the hell didn’t we re-sign Mason Rudolph?’ So Mike has to convince people that he’s giving us the best chance.”
It’s a gentler but more accurate version of similar media personalities worrying about the discord in the locker room regarding the team’s starting quarterback, a theme that seemed to play out last year when the Steelers decided late in the season to play Rudolph in place of a healthy Kenny Pickett.
Publicly, Tomlin has kept the competition between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields open. Although Wilson has a very good chance of winning the deal, Tomlin has not yet made a statement to the media or, presumably, the team.
Lombardi gives his opinion on who would make sense and believes Tomlin will stick with Wilson because he is more trusted to take care of the football.
“The biggest decision for Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh is who’s going to protect the football. He’s got to protect the ball,” he said. “Russell Wilson was seventh best in the National Football League last year in not throwing interceptions. He protected the ball for the most part.”
That’s the model the Steelers used after Ben Roethlisberger, and the reason Mitch Trubisky struggled so much. With a weak offense but a top-notch defense, Pittsburgh is much more likely to win 17-14 than 31-28. Turnovers make it harder for the defense to get a stop on short fields and increase the number of possessions it has to defend, which of course creates more opportunities for the opponent to score. Simply put, when the Steelers win, they don’t lose the ball. When they give it away, they don’t.
Wilson, Lombardi said, was smarter with the ball than Fields, one of the most turnover-prone quarterbacks in football since his signing. While the Steelers want to tweak their model and maybe play a little more aggressively to score more points, they’re not going to put 30 points on the scoreboard every week. That means they can’t be plagued by turnovers and unforced errors. And that’s why Wilson will almost certainly be the starter to open the season.
It’s a decision Tomlin probably doesn’t even have to sell. The locker room already knows it’s coming.
