Russell Wilson makes his preseason debut with the Steelers, and the offense isn’t going anywhere with him

If there really is a competition for the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback job, it should still be wide open after Saturday night.

Russell Wilson played his first preseason game with the Steelers after being held out last week. The offense struggled with Wilson in the game.

The Steelers had four punts and a missed field goal on Wilson’s five drives. Justin Fields took over just before the two-minute warning of the first half. Wilson finished 8 of 10 for 47 yards, and a lot of those yards came on three third-down passes that fell well short of first downs. It wasn’t a pretty outing.

Wilson took a couple of sacks on third down. One of Wilson’s problems with the Broncos was holding the ball too long and taking too many sacks. It will frustrate the Steelers’ coaching staff if it continues like this. Both sacks ruined drives and led to punts.

Fields also takes too many sacks, but he can at least make up for it by scrambling for big gains. That used to be part of Wilson’s game, but it has diminished with age.

In the preseason opener, Wilson was sidelined with a calf injury suffered early in training camp. Fields played fairly well, but a few fumbled snaps overshadowed his positive plays. The offense at least moved a little in this game.

The Steelers didn’t do much against the Bills defense with Wilson in the game. Wilson was either just holding the defense back too often or getting sacked. Three times, on third down, he completed a short pass that ended up short of the first-down marker.

In the Steelers’ first four drives, they accumulated 12 net yards, one first down, four punts and did not advance beyond their own 34-yard line.

After an interception by Steelers safety Miles Killebrew, the offense showed some life, but not enough. Wilson hit Van Jefferson for an 11-yard gain on third down. A deep pass down the sideline to George Pickens was nearly intercepted, but he was just out of bounds. On third down, it was another pass that missed the posts, but this one put Chris Boswell in better position for a field goal. Boswell missed, however, hitting the post.

Wilson has been the favorite to start since signing with the Steelers. Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin has said it’s a competition, but all signs point to Wilson starting in Week 1. That’s not a very exciting proposition after what we’ve seen in Wilson’s first snaps for the Steelers.