Ray, thank you for the time. Absolutely, good to be with you tonight.
Thank you, thank you. Looking at this 4-2 start, understanding how they have won and lost some of the games, now that Russell Wilson is a goal with that calf, are a little shocked that he's kind of being elevated into playing with the ones? No, not really JR. If you look at that last game, probably Justin Fields' worst game of the season. Once again, 145 passing yards, which is really kind of like his average for the first six games of the season, he threw an interception that was negated by a roughing the passer penalty and he was missing wide open guys all over the field. So, when you look at it like that, I think Mike Tomlin made this move because the Steelers are 28th in the league in passing offense. You're going to lose a little bit with the running stuff with Russell Wilson, the quarterback, but I think they're betting on Russell sparking the passing game and especially with Arthur Smith. The Steelers run play action. There's only one other team that runs more play action than the Steelers and Justin Fields just isn't very good at it. Russell Wilson has made a living off that for his entire career, so I think that aspect of the offense will improve as well. So, we'll see what happens with Russ.
He's going to be knocking some rust off, but I think in the end, if they want to be a true playoff contender, they have to have a better passing game. Well, Ray, even outside of that calf injury that pretty much got him all summer long, wasn't this always the plan from day one? Yes.
Yeah. I mean, they signed Russell Wilson in March and then I think a few days later, two or three days later, they acquired Justin Fields in a trade with the Bears, but the only reason they made that trade was because Kenny Pickett has to be traded. So, that move necessitated going out and getting a backup quarterback.
So, it worked out. Justin Fields was tremendous, I thought, throughout training camp when Russ couldn't play. Obviously, it led the Steelers to a 4-2 record. There's just something left to be desired when it comes to his accuracy, his decision-making, his ability to see the field. They don't let him audible with a line of scrimmage.
I mean, that's a huge untold factor in all this. The only way that Justin Fields can audible is from a running play to another running play. They don't even trust him audible to a passing play. So, that's going to change with Russell as well. I don't want to say Arthur Smith was handcuffed with Justin Fields. They just didn't trust Justin Fields and I think there's going to be a lot more trust in Russell Wilson.
Ray Fittipaldo is joining us from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The fans, the fan base, you hear a lot of people who say, well, look at their record or why would they make this move? What would you say to them?
You gave a lot of strong arguments and points and reasons as to why. Why do the fans feel this way? It feels like the Steela fans don't trust management or the coaching. Yeah, I think it's the younger fans. I think the younger fans who grew up in this era of football, I mean, football is different at the college level now. There are more Justin Fields entering the league now than there are guys like Russell Wilson. You know, those guys who run pro style offenses are few and far between now and you have this different style of quarterback and I think that's the portion of the fan base who wants to stick with Justin Fields.
They like the ad-lib. They love the athleticism, but the way the Steelers want to play under Mike Tomlin and really Arthur Smith as well is they just want to run a pro style offense. They want to pound the rock with Najee Harris and Jalen Warren. They want to play action and they want to get a little bit more out of the passing game. So that's the style that they want to play and I think that's the style they're going to play with Russell Wilson. Let's face it guys, when he was with Seattle, he wasn't throwing the ball all over the field.
They were a ball control team that fed off a great defense as well. So Russ is used to playing in this type of system and I think Mike Tomlin is backing on Russ being effective in the same manner now with the Steelers. How often do you think we'll see Fields? There's a thought that he might pop up here or there as they approach the red zone.
What do you think? This is more options, more things for the opposing defense to think about, but is this going to vary week to week or what do you think? Yeah, I mean I'm sure they're going to have packages for Fields. Probably in goal-to-go situations that's where he's been most effective. He leads all quarterbacks in the league with five Russian cut styles. So I wouldn't expect much in the middle of the field. In terms of when they're going to do it, I think that's week to week, team to team. I think maybe a team like the Raiders are more vulnerable to that and we'll see what transpires this week with the Jets.
Probably a much better defense and a much more traditional defense than what they're facing on Sunday night. So yeah, there will be some packages, but it's hard to say on a Tuesday or a Wednesday just how much Justin Fields will play on Sunday night. Ray Fittipaldo is joining us here from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
It's the JR Sport Reshow Coast to Coast. We know that the Steelers wanted to get their hands on another wide receiver dating back to summer, whether it was Brandon Iuch. More recently, Davante Adams has been reported that they were kind of poking around there. Is there still a possibility that they can bring on another wide out between now and November 5th at the trade deadline? I mean, they were shooting high guys. I mean, you know, they walk on after, you know, guys who could be number threes.
They wanted a number one to come in here to pair them, to pair that guy with George Pickens. And there's just not too many guys who are available right now. Davante Adams was probably the last one and, you know, Cooper as well today. But the Cleveland Browns were never going to trade Amari Cooper within the division. Let's face it.
So, yeah, there's probably a few lesser names out there. But I think the one thing that goes unsaid with Arthur Smith, he loves his tight ends. They are in 12 personnel. That's their base offense. I mean, they play two tight ends, probably as much or more as anyone in the league. They play with three tight ends more than they play with three receivers. So that's another aspect of this as well. Would they love to have another, you know, good receiver to pair with Pickens?
Yes. But if you go back and look at Arthur Smith when he was in Tennessee, he got by with, I would say, a relatively average receiver group. I know AJ Brown was there. But beyond AJ Brown, he didn't have much there.
He made it work because he utilized everyone within that offense. And I think that's going to be his, you know, his perspective now. That's the way he wants to play. And I think there are ways to get around not having a true number two receiver. Well, Ray, you talk about the two wide receiver after Pickens. We know what Pickens can do.
I remember him here in Georgia. At what point do the Steelers look at George and just go, when are you going to grow up? We've seen this before with Steeler wide outs. Is he reaching that point?
Are they ignoring? Like, what's the deal with him? Yeah, I mean, it happened with Antonio Brown. It happened with Martavis Bryant. It happened with Chase Clayton. That's just three off the top of my head.
It's probably happened, you know, more than that. And you're being based in Georgia. Listen, you knew there's a reason George Pickens felt like pick number 50 in the middle of the second round.
There were questions about his character and, you know, his behavior at Georgia. So, the guy's got all the talent in the world. They have to try to harness it. They have to try to get him more involved early, I think.
They've really had a hard time doing that for whatever reason. I really think, guys, with Wilson taking over now as quarterback, a professional passer, a guy who knows how to get other guys involved, I think George Pickens could be the biggest beneficiary out of this move among everyone on that offense. I'm not saying it's going to be perfect, but I'm just saying that with Justin Fields, a quarterback, he never really did figure out how to incorporate George from week to week.
I think Russell will be much better at that. Well, Ray, we know the defense has been handling business led by Mr. Watt, putting the clamps on the opposition. The Bengals having an off year. We know the Ravens always going to be hanging around. We know the Browns are absolutely awful, awful, awful. What are your thoughts on what the Steelers can do the rest of this year, realistically, at the end?
Yeah. I mean, to me, guys, for the last really since 2017, you know, they were 13 and three that year. They probably should have been the one seed if not for a bad call in that Patriots game. But really, since then, they've been like a six or a seven seed every time that they've made the playoffs. And I think this year, if you want to do better and you want to finally win a playoff game for the first time since 2016, you got to win the division. And that means beating the Ravens. So you got to get a top four seed. You got to, you know, play a home game. And, you know, they're tied to what right now with the Ravens will get the Ravens twice in the second half of the season.
You know, kind of a scheduling quirk. They have all six division games, I think, in the final seven or eight weeks of the season. So they're going to have a chance to, you know, to accomplish that.
So that's where they are for me. I think right now they're kind of like in the same boat as Buffalo and, you know, some of those other teams that are in wildcard position. I think they're a step below the Ravens, the Texans and the Chiefs. And who knows, maybe this switching quarterback, maybe that'll get them up to that upper echelon. But right now, I think they're probably a wildcard team if they want to win a playoff game.
I like I said, I think they got to go out and win that division and top the Ravens. Well, Ray, we always hear about how Mike Tomlin has yet to have that losing record. And we hear players, whether they are retired or active. Aaron Rodgers, the latest. Oh, I love Mike Tomlin. The players, whether they play for him or go up against him, they love Mike Tomlin. Every time I step foot in Pittsburgh, my Uber driver tells me, oh, I can't wait to get rid of Mike Tomlin. He just got an extension. Please describe the relationship between the fan base and Mike is like they don't appreciate.
Yeah. I mean, listen, this is the longest, longest playoff victory drought for the Steelers since the NFL, AFL merger in 1970. This is the longest they've gone between playoff wins in that time.
So that's over 50 years, guys. So, you know, in 2017, they were the two seed. They lose at home to Blake Bortles and the Jaguars. 2020, they lose at home to Baker Mayfield and the Browns. And that was a much lesser version of the Baker Mayfield that we see now. And it's just there are some bad losses in there in the postseason that I think that has soured the fan base.
Now, I'm not going to argue. I'm going to tell you, Mike Tomlin is a really good coach, but he hasn't produced in the postseason. And when you're the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers and there's six Lombardi trophies in that trophy case, that's all that matters. So, yes, it's a spoiled fan base, but they're not going to change.
And Mike Tomlin has to win a playoff game or make another Super Bowl run if the fans are truly going to be happy. Well, Ray, I appreciate the time and certainly the insight. Where can people follow you and all of your work with the Post Gazette?
Yeah, www.post-gazette.com. My Twitter is Ray fit, R-A-Y-F-I-T-T 1. That's my Twitter handle. So appreciate it, guys. Well, thank you, Ray. Have a good evening. We'll catch you on down the line. All right.
