Throughout training camp and the preseason, Russell Wilson sure hasn’t looked like the starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Hampered by a calf strain all of summer practice, Wilson made his Steelers debut last week against the Buffalo Bills. Preseason or not, it was a performance to forget.
In typical Stephen A. Smith style, Smith got shout-y in a message to Wilson, who quarterbacks his favorite team.
“Russell Wilson, you’re beginning to piss me off,” Smith said on ESPN’s First Take. “Somebody’s gotta say it, so I’m gonna say it… You stunk last year. You’re getting paid $37.8 million to go away. The Denver Broncos is willing to eat nearly $38 million to get rid of you, and you sittin’ there fighting for a starin’ job with Justin Fields. You ain’t for no startin’ job with Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson or somebody. It’s Justin Fields you’re fightin’ for a job with. And he’s sittin’ there with a smile on his face, talkin’ ’bout ‘you need to relax.’
“You ain’t Aaron Rodgers,” Smith continued on his rant. “You don’t get to say that. You’ve gotta show up. You wearin’ the Black and Gold now. You a Steeler. I don’t wanna hear that stuff from him. Too cool for school. You fightin’ for your career. Act like it, Russell Wilson.”
A decade ago now, Rodgers famously told Packers fans to relax about the team’s slow start. It was a cute comment from Smith, but Wilson never told anybody they needed to relax — Wilson simply said he was unconcerned about the state of the offense.
Wilson has been to two Super Bowls and is a nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback. Like the rest of us, Smith wants to see Wilson take the quarterback job by the reigns and not let go.
We’ll get one last preseason look at Wilson, who will start in Pittsburgh’s finale against the Detroit Lions on Saturday afternoon.
"You're fighting for your career. Act like it, Russell Wilson."@stephenasmith goes off on Russell Wilson 😯 pic.twitter.com/ZmlyjePw00
— First Take (@FirstTake) August 22, 2024
