PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Can’t imagine a better start for Russell Wilson as the new Steelers quarterback. He has said everything correctly. He’s been around his new teammates and social media posts to prove he’s fitting in.
During an interview following his first day of Organized Team Activities on the South Side he called the Steelers, ‘a great group of guys’. He bragged about how he wanted to join the great team and the great team culture in Pittsburgh. Then he dropped local legends.
“You dream about these moments,” Wilson said Tuesday. “I remember watching guys like Ben Roethilsberger, some of the all-time greats. Watching Coach Cowher, watching the tradition here. You can tell how engulfed the fan base is. We are focusing on being the best we can be.”
So far, teammates seem to gravitate to him. Justin Fields said how much he is looking forward to learning from Wilson and in turn Wilson said he’s anxious to teach Fields.
Even when asked if he was in a competition with Fields, he had a polished answer.
“I think every day you look to be the best version of you, that’s always the competition internally,” Wilson said. “Then you are always competing against the 31 other teams. You step on the field with that mentality, nothing should ever change. That’s how I always looked at it and nothing should change.”
The 35-year-old said when you treat every day as day one and you just try to have a learning experience daily, you look forward to the challenges. It doesn’t become mundane, you are excited about the newness of it all. What the All-Pro QB has learned is to treat every warmup, every practice, every game, every day as if you are preparing for the Super Bowl. That’s the mentality he is making sure the team has.
“We are so young, but let so talented,” Wilson said. “If we embrace the challenge every day. If we embrace the opportunity every day, we can go places.”
Wilson said while he hasn’t played for an Arthur Smith offense, he’s watched it enough. He appreciates the physicality of it. How Smith pushes them to make sure they all play with the same mentality so they can do the right thing at the right moment.
Coming off a pair of bad seasons in Denver, at least team-wise, Wilson said both he and Smith have a lot to prove and accomplish. Not that he feels necessarily changed by those couple of years.
“I wouldn’t say I’m scalded,” Wilson explained. “I would say I learned a lot. I think internally you get better. You get tougher. You use your experiences, you use the challenges that you’ve done through to be the best version of you.”
“I don’t blink. I’m looking forward to the challenge and the opportunity.”
In his 13th season, Wilson said he’s seen a lot of talent, a lot of confidence and a lot of ability in Pittsburgh. He said a lot of guys are in the process of learning.
“That’s the part that you love,” Wilson said. “I remember being a young rookie and you are learning the way, every detail.”
He singled out third-year receiver Calvin Austin for how he is playing and credited Pat Freiermuth and Van Jefferson, along with Austin for training in the offseason with Wilson. He didn’t miss mentioning George Pickens and said Najee Harris texts him a lot and wants to win.
It’s a lot of talk and very limited action right now, but it’s hard to find anything wrong with Russell Wilson in black and gold.