Pittsburgh Steelers’ Russell Wilson suffers injury setback

PITTSBURGH – Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback Russell Wilson was limited in his team’s practice on Thursday afternoon due to the aftereffects of a calf injury, putting a damper on his team’s plans just days before Sunday’s Week 1 game against the Atlanta Falcons.

Wilson was seen near the team, but he was not wearing his helmet and did not take a single snap all day.

Head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters that Wilson’s calf was tight and that he would see a doctor to have his condition further evaluated.

Wilson did not appear on the team’s injury report released after Wednesday’s practice, despite being a full participant in practice over the past few days.

The Steelers are taking every precaution necessary to ensure his injury does not worsen before his regular-season debut with the team, but according to Tomlin, there are no major concerns within the team about his long-term availability.

Wilson originally sustained the injury during a Steelers conditioning test at the start of training camp, which limited his participation in team practices and even opened up the opportunity for Justin Fields to step in and challenge his spot in the starting lineup.

Wilson missed his team’s first preseason game against the Houston Texans before playing a total of six series in the following two games against the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions.

Last week, he was officially named starting quarterback and, as a result, was given the captain’s armband for Pittsburgh’s offense on Monday.

Wilson is coming off the 2023 season with the Denver Broncos, where he threw for 3,070 yards, 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions with a 66.4% completion rate, the third-best rate of his 12-year career.

The Steelers signed Wilson to a one-year contract this offseason after the Broncos released him from a $245 million contract and took on $85 million in unused capital.

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