ESPN breaks down why Russell Wilson is Steelers' QB1 over Justin Fields after last preseason game !!

out of a Mike Tomlin L team but the question remains who will lead that offense whether it be Russell Wilson who in his lone Drive showed signs of promise on Saturday against Detroit or will it be Justin Fields one last lease on that rookie contract to prove he belongs as a starter in this league expected to hear the starter named in Pittsburgh on Monday and to break it down CBS Sports NFL analysts Emy hunt and Ryan Wilson and I will point out that this is one of two remaining quarterback controversies let's call it not one yet named in Pittsburgh not one yet named in New England but far different circumstances you take a look at what you saw and both of these quarterbacks in Pittsburgh I think gave us the best look of what we've seen all preseason what did you walk away from this day feeling about those two Emory well one I feel like they should go with Phils because he's a younger more Dynamic explosive version of Russell Wilson what Wilson looked like as a youth youth in his rookie season that's what Phils looks like feels provides it gives you a little bit more upside and at the end of the day you know you can always fall back to the veteran in Russell Wilson who we talked about last time Joe where you're starting to get Donovan McNab Washington Minnesota Vikings vibe from Russ and even in that press conference where he was talking about this it sound like he was residing to the fact that hey I may be the backup he was throwing a lot of cliches I know that's Russ but it felt like he was throwing a lot more cliches than normal so we'll see how it plays out but I will go with Fields uh does this sound familiar Joe find someone that loves you as much as emry hunt loves Justin Fields because listen look I I get it and Joe you have firstand experience with Justin Fields as a Bears fan but they made it clear from from the moment they acquired Russ that he was going to be the guy that was before they traded for Justin fields that was before the draft uh we saw all the OT snaps go to Russ Wilson and the only reason we saw a lot of Justin Fields early in preseason is because Russ HT his calf and I would argue that Justin didn't take advantage of those opportunities those snaps during preseason to differentiate himself and that brings us to what happened and unfolded today in Detroit uh to Em's Point both players uh showed well uh in limited snaps but I think that you have to finally feel good about Russ doing some of the things that we saw pre Denver which no one wants to remember if you're looking for old school Russ in those Seattle days and with Arthur Smith what are you going to do you're going to run the ball there's going to be a balance there with Naj Harris unfortunately Jaylen Warren's banged up so he won't be a part of that run game early on but there thing I'd point to is that the first two games they have the the Steelers at Atlanta sort of the Arthur Smith Revenge game and then week two they're at Denver and maybe Russ has something to prove there assuming of course he gets the job that is an assumption and I don't know if it's a proper one or not I have asked emry hunt this question and I want to hear your answer and there's layers to it and it will likely change over these next 20 some odd weeks but is the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers 2025 on the 2024 roster is there a chance that there is no right answer in Pittsburgh currently oh there's a chance and one of the things you have to guard against Joe and emry is this Mike Tomlin is a lot of things a great coach is up there at the top of the list he's also incredibly stubborn and we saw that last year with Kenny picket having the job probably too long and even worse than that Matt Canada as the offensive coordinator for probably a year a year and a half too long so I think that they're going to stick this out with Russ and Justin this year it'll be interesting see however if they do decide to move on from both players should it not work out because they're not tied to either player after the season but they're going to give every opportunity to both those young men to to earn the job as emry points out one's 10 years younger than the other and maybe by the time it's all said and done it is Justin's job over Russ's and they have given them those opportunities here in the preseason still no answer which sounds some early alarms for me at least because these are two different quarterbacks and if it's going to be one if it's going to be the other the system probably looks a little bit different you probably call a different offense for Russell Wilson than you do for Justin fields to get to some of what they do well how alarming is it that we don't yet have a starter named here and do you think that stunts the growth for both of them whoever gets that job first of all Mike Tomlin if I became president would be my press secretary he gives great clear-cut answers you know where you stand with Mike Tomlin but I feel like we're overanalyzing the preseason let's just throw out the preseason and go back with what we saw live in actual regular season games during the year we know Justin Fields can be dynamic inside the Red Zone where Russ struggled inside the Red Zone where he was once good at inside the Red Zone when he was younger Justin fields we know he had injury issues and if he can stay healthy maybe he plays better in Chicago or more consistently because it was it felt like every time he got started then you had to reset the start because he got hurt he missed two or three games he had throw back out there and go back to where he was so I feel like this is an easy answer for me your eyes can tell you a lot of things I don't see a problem with Justin Fields he's actually played rather well in the preseason we overanalyzed two fumbled snaps that he didn't lose and he led down down the field let's go and drives he played well he's a younger guy he's a cheaper guy right now you play him some of that injury issue was the offensive line in front of him in Chicago some of it was the extended nature of the plays because of all that athleticism getting to the ground also a skill that Justin Fields needs to work on if he is the starting quarterback in Pittsburgh let's move ahead let's perhaps overreact to the smallest sample size we saw a little bit of Bryce young this preseason and it came on Saturday he needs a big year too especially when your comparison point is the greatest rookie season in the history of this league Ryan Wilson what spells success for Bryce young in year two in your eyes uh you know Bryce young it's near and dear to my heart Joe you know have had and I've had it out over Bryce versus will Levis and I'll just tell you this I was texting with our buddy Pete prisco today and he said I'll bet you that will Levis has a better season than Bryce young of course I took that bet because of course I'm overreacting to one preseason game thank you Dave Canales for at least putting Bryce young out there and this is what I'll say and this is what flashed to me more than anything the throws were nice a lot of guys were wide open against backups on the Bills team I understand that but the issue that played Bryce early and often last season what his was his footwork it was fenetic it was out of control and it led to a lot of inaccuracies and un uh unneeded hits he took a ton of hits when he didn't need to this sample size here not very much but what we saw was much better footwork the ball coming out on time he held the ball once maybe twice he avoided the big hits however and he threw with accuracy on the run and in the pocket and that's encouraging don't Mis understand this team is not winning 10 football games but they're going to be better offensively than they were a year ago the question is how much and how much better can that offensive line protect them yeah the same things that make you laugh make you cry right and so when you look at Bryce young what you liked about him in Alabama was the fact that he was able to play Off Script he's a little bit more Dynamic and in the NFL sometimes that work and sometimes it doesn't and when it doesn't it looks real bad but again this guy was a young guy rookie I'm not going to throw the baby out with the bath water like some people do social media has been a you know a bad thing for us because a lot of people are really just a Panthers need to draft the quarterback ready again I don't think you do that I think you let him play himself out give him that full three years and let's see how it works this was a talented quarterback coming into the class for two years he didn't just get bad because of a bad uh situation he was in I think he'll be fine I think he'll prove to be a better quarterback this year you said play himself out and called him a baby I I can't I can't help but laugh I mean it's right there for me emry hunt I know you had a thought here on what really stole some of the attention in this game Frank Gore Jr undrafted 100 yards on a professional football field is something special how does he how does he stack up into what we might see this season is this is this a roster number I mean what did you see here from gor and what does it mean moving forward well this was a stature case week for everybody right the last preseason game and Gore was someone that really stood out the East West Rin Bowl showcasing his versatility which he had all throughout his career at Southern Miss what we didn't see in this ball game which he is definitely uh capable of is being a downfield threat in the passing game and also throwing the football he had a couple passes against my raing cun one was 50 yard bomb down the field so he can do a lot of things and we saw the running game here I feel like he will make the roster I love the Back Field that they have it's a tough back fi to crack but he proved today why he should have he made his case to be on that roster emry hunt Ryan Wilson we appreciate you guys as always real thing soon but for now we thank you foreign spee fore has for Fore [Music] fore for [Music]