Ben Roethlisberger Disagrees With Steelers’ Presumed QB Decision

The Steelers appear to be making a change at QB, but not everyone is feeling too excited about it.

Pittsburgh plans to give Russell Wilson first-team reps in practice this week, putting him in line to make his season debut and start next Sunday against the New York Jets. The Steelers leaned on Justin Fields to start the season and were guided to a 4-2 record that included a bounce-back victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, but with his calf injury in the rearview, the plan appears to have Wilson return to the starting role he earned during training camp.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin ultimately is responsible for that decision, but even his former players aren’t fond of it.

“I would absolutely not even think about taking him out of the game right now,” Ben Roethlisberger said on the “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger” podcast Tuesday. “I would keep him in there, and even if he has a bad game I would keep him in there… I think he’s playing well enough. I think he’s doing enough, you saw with his legs especially… I thought he played well, and it’s good to know what you have at the backup with Russ there if you need him.”

Roethlisberger went on to explain why he’d prefer to see Fields keep the job over Wilson.

“I think what you’re going to get from Russ is more pocket presence to throw the ball down the field, but what you’re not going to get is that (ability to) extend the play that Justin has,” Roethlisberger said. “He’s a running back back there when he decides to run. He’s a really talented runner.”

Fields has been better than most expected after he was elevated to the starting role, accounting for 10 total touchdowns and just one interception, all while completing a career-high 66.3% of his passes. Pittsburgh is counting on a lot from Wilson, which means they probably forgot about what happened last season with the Denver Broncos.

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