Pittsburgh Review

After playing approximately 20 snaps in his first preseason action last weekend against the Buffalo Bills, Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson is looking forward to returning to the field Saturday when the team concludes its preseason at Detroit.

Wilson stated he expects to play alongside the rest of the Steelers' starters against Detroit and is eager to showcase a better performance than the offense has demonstrated in its initial two preseason games.

"We're all playing," Wilson said Wednesday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "I'm excited. I'm excited to get back on the field. You know what? Last week was great to be out there for the first time, putting pads on and everything else, and obviously we didn't get the win and everything else. But I think the big thing for us is just executing and us making our plays and doing our thing."

The first-team offense has yet to generate any points in eight preseason possessions. With Wilson sitting out the preseason opener against Houston due to a calf injury sustained during conditioning drills on the opening day of training camp, Justin Fields started. Although the offense moved effectively, snap issues caused it to stall in two of three series.

Last week against the Bills, penalties and sacks resulted in several third-and-long situations with Wilson leading the offense.

With a new offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith and an entirely new quarterback room featuring Wilson, Fields, and third-string quarterback Kyle Allen, some growing pains were anticipated.

However, Wilson, a 13-year veteran, finds comfort in how practices have been progressing smoothly.

"First of all, it's preseason, and I think that there's always highs," Wilson said. "There's some things that we've done really well; there's some things that we need to be better at. That's part of playing. It's part of the fun about the preseason. You learn things and you translate that to the practice field as well. We'd be concerned if we hadn't had the level of practices we've had against one of the best defenses every day and how we've shown up there. So I think the best thing that we can do is just slow our minds down, play really clean football."

Wilson completed 8 of 10 passes for 47 yards against the Bills but suffered three sacks due to protection breakdowns.

He also checked down on third-and-long passes to Pat Freiermuth and Jaylen Warren, falling just short of a first down both times.

Wilson advised not reading too much into those plays.

"We had guys running past the sticks and all of that," Wilson said. "The problem is when they know that's happening; it's third-and-15. It's pretty easy on defense; they just kind of sit there. You've got to check it down. And we almost got a couple."

Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio.

"We could go looking to drive the ball in there, but sometimes you don't want to force a turnover, especially when it's early in game," continued Wilson. "If it's fourth quarter or last play of game then yeah you got thread needle but early game it's about field position moving sticks trying find way get first down talented guys trust guys around you guy like Jalen Warren who's top missed tackle guys give them football makes plays trust reads trust time do that."

This process allows Wilson to learn about his new teammates' capabilities within an unfamiliar offense while adjusting himself.

That's why he welcomes another opportunity for additional playing time before Steelers' regular season opener Sept 8 Atlanta.

"We have got play cleaner football way that'll give us better chance find rhythm make plays," said Wilson." We have guys working their tails off every day so I'm excited about this week focused this week not last focused today's practice not yesterday's best thing we can do."